Stranger From the Sky, chapter 1: Second Coming
by Nitebreaker
Summary: Beast Boy and Terra's wedding is approaching, but the Titans get an unexpected visitor. Plus, a lurking menace in the background may delay the Big Day permanently. Rated M for content. Beast Boy/Terra, Raven/Hank, Starfire/Robin, Kitten/Omega...and someone else who may complicate things. Sequel to "Godwar, Part 2: Battleground." Now complete.
1. Chapter 1

Interlude: Stranger from the Sky

Chapter One: Second Coming

Beast Boy had never been this nervous in his entire life.

He and Terra were rehearsing for their upcoming wedding, and Mrs. Jones, Hank's mother, had hired her family's church, the First United Methodist Church of Jump City, and their pastor, the Reverend Jackie Reed, for the occasion. But if he was this nervous at just the rehearsal, he could only imagine how bad it would be on the actual day itself. Cyborg, Robin, Starfire, Haywire, Kitten, Raven, and Angelique looked on. Omega had been called off to a meeting with the Hunters and the Justice League. The Kindred had, for the most part, been keeping to themselves, but there had been a few indications that they were not completely opposed to some interaction with humanity. Garfield hoped he wasn't sweating, well, at least not noticeably.

Ever since their return from Apokolips, there had been little sign of either Typhon or the Entity.

And then Terra entered, from the back of the aisle, and, somehow, his fears and nervousness just faded away.

Even without her bridal gown, just in her street clothes, she was still easily the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. All his tension, all his anxiety, diminished into the background. It didn't go away, of course, but just seeing her, knowing that they'd soon be husband and wife, made it all worthwhile.

Her brother, Brion, aka Geo-Force, escorted her down the middle of the aisle. The plan was, he was to give her away, their father choosing not to involve himself in these matters. At the direction of the Reverend, Gar and Terra went through the procedures, making the vows, exchanging the rings (though not the real ones of course), the whole mock ceremony. _I guess this is a good thing,_ thought Gar, _otherwise, to have this sprung on me all at once….well, I could easily faint. And wouldn't __that__ be a note._

"….to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, 'till death do you part….." Garfield had no problem whatsoever with _that_; there would never be anyone else for him, ever. No. Matter. What.

"You may now kiss the bride."

He bent over towards Terra, and, taking her in his arms, kissed her deeply. Midway through the kiss, however, she grimaced. "Ow."

He drew back, a lopsided grin on his face. "Gee, thanks."

"Not _you,_ goofball." She _whapped_ him on his shoulder, looking off towards the north. "Something just crashed north of the city. Something….really hard."

"What? You mean, you can sense those things?" asked Robin, "you mean, like a plane?"

"Yeah, my connection with the earth works both ways, you know. But this was something different than a plane. But whatever it was, it came down really hard_._"

Robin thought. "We'd best go investigate."

…..

They found a great furrow dug into the Earth, a few miles north of the city. Judging from the angle, it must've come in from deep space….they followed the gouge to its terminus. Whatever had come down, had come down hard enough to bury itself fairly deep within the Earth.

"Terra? Can you…?" And the blond girl concentrated, shifting the dirt and topsoil off of the object, whatever it was…..

….to reveal a humanoid hand, buried deeply within the cold Earth. A chalk-white hand, apparently belonging to someone lying face down in the furrow.

"Omega!" gasped Kitten. What had happened? He was supposed to be on board the Watchtower, going over the plans for an alliance between the Hunter's Federation and Earth. She dropped, catlike, down into the gouge in the Earth and ran over to him…and stopped abruptly, her hands hovering just over the unmoving arm below her. "Wait. This…this isn't Omega."

Terra cleared off some more topsoil, revealing what unquestionably appeared to be an Osiran warrior lying face down: alabaster white hair and skin, black and silver uniform.

But the form thus revealed was definitely female.

"Terra?" Robin was puzzled. "Could you and Starfire turn her over?" Osirans, after all, weighed tons, due to being made of a different kind of matter than humans were familiar with. So Terra concentrated, hands and eyes glowing a soft yellow light, as she mentally raised curved columns of stone to turn the warrior over as gently as she could. Starfire assisted, her great strength helping to keep the Osiran from rolling over and over.

The Osiran female proved to be breathtakingly lovely, with fine features, ever so slightly almond-shaped eyes, a small straight nose, and a small mouth, all set in a heart-shaped face, above a chin that narrowed to a point. Her milk-white hair came down to just below that chin.

And Kitten suddenly felt her heart drop down to somewhere near the vicinity of the Earth's core. Although the others couldn't know, she _recognized_ this warrior.

It was Athena.

…

"So what of these Kindred?" asked J'onn J'onnz. "These others, these Hunters, seem inclined to establish peaceful relations with us. But we've heard little from the Kindred. And, from what you say, they could pose a serious problem, should they choose to."

"We are in the process of establishing relationships with them even now. Keep in mind, they are not born conquerors by nature. It is their nature to build, to invent, to improve. I am not saying they have no desire to rule, but I believe them to be amenable to reason. They were actually helpful to us during the recent catastrophe, remember. Their force-shield saved the city from the _tsunamis._" And with Angelique now a Titan, for all intents and purposes, that would be an added incentive for peaceful relations, but he saw no reason to add that. Yet. After all, one doesn't reveal _everything_ about a negotiation all at once. "Plus, their notion of 'ruling' is not exactly the same as you might be thinking. Mostly, they desire to control their immediate environment. And, unless it is needful for them to do otherwise, they prefer to keep to themselves." He looked around at the assembled core members, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern… "Remember, they were designed to be, basically, biological computers. The urge to conquer was the province of the Lords; for them to share such personality traits with any underclass would've had the potential effect of creating competition they didn't need, and to court, at the very least, social instability, and possibly even revolution."

"Very well." The Martian Manhunter shuffled some papers. "The Hunters are sending a convoy of ships with the intent of establishing relations with us. They have extended the offer to us to join their Federation. Many here are skeptical of such, of course," and here he looked pointedly at Batman, who showed absolutely no reaction at all, "but, from what I have been able to glean, they seem sincere. I plan on casting my vote in their favor. But," and here he pointed to Omega, "We will have to be counting on you to deal with these Kindred. The level of technology you've described them as possessing is quite….formidable, to say the least. Can we count on you for that?"

"I will certainly do my best, sir. That's all I can promise."

"Then that will have to do. Now, as to the matter of these god-like superbeings…."

Batman continued scowling. This being his normal expression, hardly anybody noticed.

Except Omega.

….

Kitten actually felt nauseated. While this wasn't her worst nightmare come true, it sure came close.

Robin was speaking to her. "Kitten? Are…are you alright?"

She sniffled and turned away, trying not to show her feelings; after all, she'd _never_ let them see her as _weak_. "'Course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, look: this is an Osiran warrior. I don't know what's happened to her, or when she'll wake up, or anything, but we have to have some means of communicating with her. Osirans don't have vocal apparatus, and, while they can hear, that doesn't mean she'll be able to _understand_ us when she wakes up. And remember: she's a warrior. Chances are, when she does wake up, in an unknown situation, among strangers, she could easily react violently. Very violently.

"You know the most of any of us here about Osirans. Is there some way of communicating with her, of letting her know our peaceful intent? Maybe some kind of writing or sign or sign language, something?"

Kitten was almost too miserable to think straight. So. This was how it was gonna end. "There, there is a sign…you gotta piece of paper?" He produced one, and handed her a pen. She drew a line, up from the bottom, then stopped. Above that, she drew a circle. Within the circle, she continued the line almost to the center of the circle, stopping short less than a half a centimeter. In the exact center of the circle, she drew a dot. "Here. This…isn't exactly a 'peace' sign, I don't know if they even had such a thing, but this figure basically means, loosely translated, 'hostilities have ceased within this vicinity.' It's the closest thing I can think of….." She handed the paper to Robin, still sniffling. "Have Terra carve this on a rock or something. That way, when she wakes up, she'll see it, and….." She found she couldn't go on. A tear coursed down her cheek. The others looked at her with concern.

And then the alien woman moved, shifted. She was regaining consciousness.

Robin moved everybody back. He'd seen what an Osiran warrior could do; if this one felt threatened, she could easily devastate half the state without even trying. Terra had carved the Osiran symbol into a nearby rocky outcropping, within easy sight of the female.

The warrior sat up, looking around. She noticed the Osiran symbol carved into solid stone, but her gaze was fixed, primarily, on the humans gathered around her in a ring.

_And she spoke, with a clear, clipped, precise British accent_: "What happened? Where am I? And who are you?"

To say that the humans standing around her were astonished would've been an understatement. Mouths were literally hanging open. Omega had been the only Osiran they'd ever encountered who could actually speak, but that had only been because the Orb had artificially grown some vocal apparatus within him. It had been an excruciating ordeal for him. And, of course, his familiarity with the English language had been a by-product of his temporary soul-bonding with Hank.

But this…this was totally unexpected.

While the others concentrated on the female warrior, Raven moved towards Kitten. "Kitten? What's wrong? I sense your distress."

"_Nothing's_ wrong. I'm just _fine._" She lied, hugging herself. "I'm going back to the Tower now." She summoned her flying platform. "By the way, her name's Athena. Just so's you know." And with that, she was gone.

Raven watched her go, a worried expression on her face.

…

Omega flew back to the Tower, in one of the happiest moods he could ever recall. In truth, he'd actually overstressed his fears regarding the Kindred; they _had _proved to be helpful in the past, and he certainly had hopes that trend would continue. If only he could overcome their seeming _fear_ of him….

He moved down the hallway towards Kitten's room. No doubt she'd be as ecstatic as he was, and he wanted to share this triumph, premature though it might be, with the one he loved.

And, of course, there was his and Kitten's upcoming role in Beast Boy's and Terra's wedding. He hadn't been able to make it to many of the rehearsals; he'd have to make a serious effort to try to remedy that.

But what were these emotions he was sensing coming from her room? Anger, hurt, a sense of _betrayal_?….what could be the cause of that? Had someone hurt her? If so, he'd certainly see to it that they'd regret it mightily. He was definitely not too good to enjoy a good bout of revenge.

He opened the door. "Kitten? Are you alright?"

Kitten was over by her bed, throwing some things into a duffel bag. "_'Course_ I'm alright. Couldn't be _better_. Everything's just _peachy_." She practically spat the words out, all the while continuing to fill up the duffel bag.

He came over and sat on her bed. "Do you want to try that again? It didn't seem to work, last time."

"Look, just get outta here, okay? Leave me alone."

"No. I will not leave you until you tell me what's got you so upset."

Kitten seriously considered throwing something at him. It wouldn't do any good, of course; he was invulnerable. So why waste the effort? Instead she snorted. "Like you don't know, Mr. X-ray / telescopic vision."

He cocked his head at her. "Kitten, I don't use my senses to pry into every nook and cranny of human existence. It doesn't require much intelligence to realize that humans have such things as walls-and doors, with locks on them—for a _reason_. So, no, I don't go spying on people unless I have to, in the line of duty. Now won't you tell me what's going on?"

Kitten had finally packed all she felt like she could carry. Okay. All she had to do was just fly her platform back to her dad's place….it would be good to be back home, in her old room. She'd already made up her mind to flush the glowing blue crystal pendant Omega had given her down the toilet. It was just garbage, anyway. But he obviously wasn't going to quit pestering her until he got an answer to his question. And so she sat down beside him, as far away as she could in the narrow confines of her room, and, drawing a deep breath, said, "Athena's back." There. There it was, out in the open.

He looked shocked. "Athena? She..she's alive? And she's _here?_

"Yes. She's here. Just down the hallway, in fact. And somehow, she's able to talk and understand English. How we don't know." She sighed.

He looked puzzled. "Well, that is….good news, I suppose. I had thought she was dead. But why would it cause you to feel this way?"

"Whaddaya mean 'why'? Now it's you and her, together again. And that leaves me out. So I'm leaving."

_Now_ he understood. He had the ability—very much unlike the warriors of Osira—to read emotions, but just being able to sense what someone else was feeling didn't necessarily mean you knew _why_. "You're _jealous!_"

"I am not!"

"Yes, you are."

Silence. Then, "Well, okay, so what if I am? It's not like I haven't got good reason to be. I mean, here she is, and here you are, and, and…." She found she couldn't go on. It was like her throat was constricting, somehow. She turned away, her shoulders shaking.

He turned to her, still sitting there on her bed, and hitched over closer to her. Put his hands on her shoulders, turned her around, and looked her in the eye. "Kitten. Listen to me. Athena and I were friends, nothing more. Even that concept—which we didn't even have a word for, by the way—was discouraged by the Lords, who wanted us to be totally subservient to them, with no other loyalties. You remember what I told you, about me instigating a rescue? That was _why_ it was discouraged. Why I was not executed for that, I don't know. By our law, I should have been. But I wasn't, for some reason. At least not for that.

"But what I'm trying to say is this: Athena and I were colleagues, coworkers, and, yes, friends. _But never anything more._ Anything like the sort of relationship you're referring to would've been an automatic death sentence for us both."

"But…but you said you and she 'made it' or something. Didn't that, I mean, wasn't that…." She fished around for the right words. "I mean, like, count for _something_?"

Omega let go of her and leaned forward, hands clasped between his knees, thinking. He was silent for a long time. Then, "Kitten. Perhaps I failed to fully explain just precisely what I meant by 'making it' when I spoke to you about this earlier. And perhaps I didn't fully understand what you were asking. Please remember, while I may know the English language, I am still learning how it's used. Now. When you went to grade school, say, junior high or high school, you had friends, didn't you?"

"Yeah." Actually, she really hadn't had all that many….

"Some of whom just happened to be male, correct?"

"Well, yeah." In fact, most of her few friends had been boys. They were soooo much easier to manipulate.

"Picture this: the both of you being hauled in front of a federal judge and, before a congress of witnesses, forced to have sex. Right there, in front of everybody. How would that make you feel?"

Kitten paled, her skin turning a lighter shade of red. "Omigod. It was like _that_ for you?"

"That is the best analogy I can come up with. And even that isn't really accurate. It was as complete and total a public violation for us both as was possible."

"But, but you said it was, what was the word you used? Exhilarating? Especially with someone you cared about?"

"If I understand correctly, there is a curious human custom called _rape_. During this process, the female may occasionally experience what you call an orgasm. Correct? Not often, but sometimes. And orgasms are supposed to be pleasurable, are they not?" He paused; she didn't say anything. "Does this in any way detract from the overall unpleasantness of the experience?" She still said nothing, looking down at her hands. "I understand the reverse can also be true: males can be raped by females, and, even though they, too, may experience an orgasm, it is still a thoroughly unpleasant event." He continued. "What we underwent was definitely a form of intimacy, about as intimate as was possible. I took that to mean what you were referring to. But it was by no means voluntary, or pleasant." Pause. "I won't lie to you. Yes, I cared about her. I care about her still. Enough to go against the strictures of my people and stage a rescue. And yes, I enjoyed being around her. Don't you enjoy being around your friends?

"But we were _never anything_ _more_. We didn't have _time_ to become anything more, or the _concept_ of being anything more. I will not try to deceive you: maybe in time, we…..might've become…something more….but we _never were_. She went back to her Lord, and I went back to mine. I only saw her again sporadically, on those few projects we worked on. And yes, I….arranged some of those so as to be in her company. I regarded her as a friend, someone whom it was pleasant to be around, even though the word didn't exist in our language. But there was never anything more to it than that. We really didn't even know there _could _be anything more than to it than that; that knowledge, the knowledge of romance or, or of sexual or mating practices, was suppressed. It had been effectively expunged from all our libraries and databases. And remember: such things as I described to you, the mind-link, were forbidden, except under very controlled circumstances like I just described to you. The mind-link…..our minds were basically invaded, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally. In front of a full parliament of Lords. And a few Thinkers." He paused. "Maybe if it had happened in private, it might have been different, but I don't know. As it was, it was a complete sense of violation, for us both. And it took place _in public. _Before _witnesses._" He actually _shivered_, something she'd never seen him do. "Imagine if, in the scenario I just described to you, of forced sex, of having Earthly scientists arrayed around you with something like fluoroscopes detailing the exact clinical procedure of physical penetration, and some mechanism to determine precisely when pregnancy had been accomplished." Kitten felt like she was about to throw up. "Yes, she sensed that I cared about her in a more personal way than I was supposed to, I guess you'd say. And, yes, I sensed the same from her. But that didn't keep it from being an overall horrible experience, one I _never_ want to repeat." Now he took her in his arms. "Kitten. I love _you_, not Athena. Though I will not lie to you: I love her as a friend, but _you_ are the one whom I truly love. If you haven't realized that by now, well, I must be doing something wrong, is all I can say. Or not doing something right. Or perhaps a combination of the two."

Kitten blushed, something she rarely did. She brushed a tear away, as casually as she could. Wouldn't do to let the boy see her actually cry. "Okay, already. Guess I, I….overreacted a bit. It's just…I mean, she's someone from your past, with whom you've got some fond memories of, an' all…. "

He held her close. "It is true I have fond memories of her. However, my major memory regarding her is one of what I suppose you'd call horror, not just for myself, but for her, too. In fact, mostly for her. And I was powerless to save either of us from that horror." He paused. "That feeling of powerlessness only added to the horror." He paused again, still holding her. "We are the sum of our memories. And many of our memories are ones we wish we could rid ourselves of. But if we could, we'd lose valuable experience, and probably make the same mistakes all over again."

Again she sniffled, her head over his shoulder, with him holding her tight. He was right. Who'd ever thought that an alien, a stranger to the world of men, a stranger to _emotions,_ even, could've ever glommed onto such a bit of wisdom? But maybe some things were universal. "Well, enough of my, my, I guess you'd say, my insecurity," she said, drawing back, wiping her eyes and nose. "Guess we need to go introduce you to her. Maybe you can find out how she got here, and why it is she can not only talk, but actually understand English."

He held her at arm's length, looking her in the eye. "Is there any hurry?" he asked.

"What? Uh, well, no, I mean, I don't guess so…."

"Good. Because I've missed you so much…." And he drew her to him.

Meanwhile, the warrior known to humans as _Athena_ was in the humans' medical facility. Height: six feet zero. Weight: eighteen point nine tons. No heartbeat, of course: Omega had explained that Osirans didn't have hearts in the human sense. Rather, their circulatory fluids being thicker by far, not to mention somewhat differentiated, what they had was a complex organ that spun, producing much the same effect, while separating the different fluids and seeing to their delivery to the appropriate areas. Something like an Earthly centrifuge. They also had a secondary such organ lower down in the abdomen. It wasn't easy getting any other kind of useable readings from her, of course, due to the force-fields Osiran warriors produced as a natural byproduct of their metabolism, but she was being bombarded with questions.

"But how did you get here?" the one called _Robin_ asked.

"I truly do not know. Our universe was ending; the chaos wave was getting closer and closer. My group had been charged with finding some means of countering it; barring that, some means of escape. We had been experimenting with interdimensional transit vortices, what I believe you would call 'worm holes,' with the idea that the Lords and the populace could be transported to safety.

"But the chaos wave was moving too fast. It began to swallow up my entire laboratory. I tried to reach the others, to save them, but it was too late. They were gone." And here she paused, pain evident in her face and voice. "I was the last one left. I had no choice but to leap into the vortex itself, wherever it would take me. Alone.

"I knew no more until you found me. The vortex must've led me here, wherever 'here' is. That is the only possible explanation that I have."

"Well, it's good that you survived. You aren't the only Osiran warrior here, by the way; we'll introduce you to the other one later. We call him 'Omega,' by the way, and he's been a great asset to our team. You could be, too, if you wish to join us, and you're welcome to do so. That would be good for you as well; it would help you learn about our society and culture, since, after all, you are new here. And for conveniences' sake, we've named you 'Athena.' You don't mind, do you?"

"Athena." She pronounced it slowly, getting used to the unfamiliar word, the _sound_ that now meant _her_. "It…is strange to have what you call an actual _name_, but I find it oddly satisfactory. Pleasing, even. And I see the logic in it; your primary means of communication being sonic vibrations in the atmosphere, that can be heard by all, it makes sense to have terms of self-designation for each unique individual whom you may wish to address. I am eager to meet this warrior of whom you speak. Perhaps he can shed some light on the mystery of my arrival here."

"That's another thing: we know, from experience with him, that normally Osirans can't talk. How is it that you can?"

Athena thought hard. "I….honestly do not know. I only know that I awakened with this…to me, odd ability and a knowledge of several Earth languages."

….

In Kitten's room, she and Omega were engaged in perhaps the most passionate kissing Kitten could ever recall. Her hands explored his body through his suit, even as his did hers…."Mmmm. Talk about buns of steel….." She found herself wondering just how this uniform of his came off, anyway….

Omega's communicator beeped. "Not _now,_" he growled, and switched it off. He turned back to her. "Whatever it is can wait."

She held him tightly. She could feel a slight vibration running through him, not a shiver, like before, but something more subtle. A slight _thrumming. _Something she'd never felt before." 'Mega? You feel alright?"

"I….yes and no. I feel….strange, somehow. Every since my return from the Infinite, I've felt this peculiar _sensation_. I don't know what it could be."

"Have you ever felt this way before?"

"No. But….it seems to be getting … stronger." She drew back and looked him in the face. He was clearly troubled by _something_. Something nagged her in the back of her mind….maybe an intuition, or maybe just her own desire….

"Omega. Stand up here for a minute, would'ja?" Puzzled, he did so, standing in the middle of the room. "Now. Take off your clothes."

"Ex_cuse_ me?"

"I said, take off your clothes. Just take 'em off. Don't worry; I….just need to know something." She saw his hesitation. "You're not shy, are you? Would it help if I took mine off, too?"

"Uh, no, it's just….." He reached up to his neck and pushed on and twisted an almost invisible button there….

And his uniform simply vanished. No, thought Kitten, it didn't just _disappear,_ so much as it seemed to withdraw into a single thin band around his neck. He stood before her naked. Interesting. Some sort of memory molecule, she guessed. She'd have to figure it out later.

She looked him up and down. Yes, so far, everything seemed to be in order: pecs just like the human norm, sculpted biceps, flat, muscular abs, perfect hips from what she could see, and tight, muscular legs.

And between those legs…..

Her eyes widened. "Wha-ho! Wow!" She moved closer. "Looks like _somebody's_ ready to Par Tee." She began hurriedly stripping out of her own clothes…..

And at that very moment, Robin burst into the room. "Why aren't you two answering your-oh, Good God." He turned almost as bright a shade of crimson as Kitten herself and darted out of the room.

Kitten sighed. Talk about a mood killer. Still, she moved up to Omega and caressed him, fondled him. "You can feel that, can't you? I mean, you're not _that_ invulnerable, are you?"

He took her by the arms and kissed her passionately. "Oh, yes. Yes, indeed, I can."

She moved away. "Well," she sighed, "I guess duty calls. But. Afterwards…." And here she ran her hand over his hips, her tail caressing his legs, "It's just you and me. Behind a locked door. Get ready for something even better, 'kay?" she whispered.

He kissed her. "I will." And again he pushed/twisted on the button on his neck, and his uniform sprang back into existence.

….

Athena waited patiently in the humans' infirmary. She was impatient to meet this lone surviving warrior; perhaps he could shed some light on her being here, in this strange place…

The one called _Robin_ entered, followed by a humanoid girl with bright red skin and what looked like a prehensile stinger equipped tail. And behind her…..Athena's eyes widened….

"Athena, this is Omega. He's been with us now for-*"

But he got no further. With no warning whatsoever, Athena launched herself, with clearly murderous intent, straight at a surprised Omega, smashing them both completely out of the Tower.

_To be continued….._

_Please read and review!_


	2. Chapter 2: Things Change

Stranger from the Sky: Chapter 2

Things Change….

_I don't own the Teen Titans_

Athena and Omega splashed into the water in the bay outside, with Athena driving Omega down, ever down to the sea floor. {{What are you doing!?}} he asked through Link.

{{Killing you,}} she replied, and, through the Link, he could feel the force of her hatred. He defended himself as best he could, but Athena was just as well trained and nearly as powerful as he was. There was a distinct possibility, he thought, that she just might succeed.

The water in the bay boiled from the violence of their actions. He fought free and made for the surface. Best to take this into the upper atmosphere, where no innocents would be harmed, he thought. She pursued him, faster that any bullet, never letting up. {{Now stop that!}}

{{I will…when you are dead.}} There was no trace of compromise in her mental voice.

For every move she made, he made a countermove. He didn't know what was going on, why she so wanted to kill him, but he wasn't about to let that happen. But he could only do so much without going on the offensive…..

…..and Raven's soul-self suddenly enveloped Athena like a shroud. Athena struggled; she wasn't from Earth, or even from Earth's universe, so Raven's magic was only partially effective. But finally, the alien woman gave out, collapsing into unconsciousness. Omega caught her and brought her back to the Tower.

There was a monstrous hole in the Tower where the two of them had crashed out; Robin looked at it and sighed. Good thing they had good insurance. "Well," he said, "I think it safe to say _this_ was unexpected."

When Athena came to, she found herself bound by some strange bonds. Normal matter, no matter how strong, would've normally posed no problem for her, but these proved to be immovable. It wasn't hard to guess what they were: some sort of bands encased in time-stasis fields. No matter how strong she was, she would be unable to break _these_ bonds. Her eyes and _formet _were covered, too. Evidently, they knew about her vision and energy powers. And something was inhibiting her ability to phase through matter.

"You awake?" said a voice.

"Yes, Robin. I am awake."

"We'd like an explanation for your behavior. Why did you attack Omega like you did?"

"Because he must die."

"But _why_ must he die?"

"He is a betrayer! A traitor to our people! He deliberately engineered the deaths of many Lords! He practically destroyed our entire civilization, on our world, single-handedly! His death is _required!_ Can you not _see_ that? Has he lied to you, blinded you to the truth about him?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he save your life?"

"That is unimportant."

"No, it's not. You were to be executed for an accident, something you couldn't help. He saved you, didn't he?"

"By reproducing the exact same event that led to my conviction in the first place, only he did it deliberately! If I deserved death for my part in an accident, how much more would he deserve it for what _he_ did?"

"But did you deserve death?"

"The Lords stated that I did."

"But was it _right_?"

"I do not know that word. At least not used in that context."

Robin sighed. This had loooooong day written aaaaaalllll over it.

Back in Omega's room, Omega sat on the reinforced bed the others had provided for him. Someone signaled for entrance. "Come in," he replied.

Kitten walked in. "Well," she said, trying to lighten the mood, "at least I guess I don't have to be worried anymore about you two hooking up anytime soon." It didn't work; if anything, he looked more miserable.

She came over and sat by him, rubbing his back soothingly. "Omega…talk to me. Tell me what happened, why she hates you so. C'mon, tell me."

"I honestly do not know, exactly. I'll admit: what she says is true: I did directly cause the deaths of many of the Lords. It was a time of war, as had become the norm in our entire universe, and resources on the planet where we were, were dwindling down to the point where the Lords had enough to sustain only themselves. The rest of the populace—it was a conquered planet, not our home world—were literally starving, with all resources going to the Lords, ostensibly to feed everyone, but….."

"But that's not the way it worked out, was it?" she finished for him, softly. How well she knew how such things went. The rulers lived in luxury, while the common people suffered. It was a pattern as old as consciousness itself, she guessed. Some things, apparently, _were_ universal. Transuniversal, even.

"And she is right. I _did_ directly kill many of the Lords, whom we were genetically programmed to obey. You remember me telling you my kind were genetically programmed, conditioned to obey? Such concepts as 'right' and 'wrong' just didn't exist for us.

"So she is correct in calling me a traitor, a betrayer. I did betray the rulers whom we were supposed to obey. She must feel I deserve death for that." He paused. "But the last time we parted company, it—it was not like this. We might've had different political views, I suppose you'd call them, but…" Another pause. "Of course, you do understand, you are only hearing what you would call my side of the story."

"Your side's all I care about hearing. Besides. Didn't you save her life? Shouldn't that count for _something_."

"Not if she believes she deserved death. And the Lords saw to it that she did. That she does."

"She must not believe it very much. She hasn't tried to kill _herself._"

"Yet."

Kitten laid her head on his shoulder, her blond hair falling over his shoulder, trying for a comforting gesture. "Omega, look. She was your friend. Now, for some reason, something's changed about her. You can't change that. People are what they are, and sometimes, for whatever reason, they change. But you have other friends, friends who'll stick by you no matter what. So who cares about her, anyway? Let her, let her go kill herself, if she really believes she deserved to die. Just don't even think about her." Even as she said it, she knew it wouldn't really do any good. "Say. Weren't we kinda interrupted at something just a few minutes ago?" _That_ oughtta take his mind off Athena. She ran her hands across his chest…..

….and right on cue, his communicator beeped. "Oh, not again!" But it was Robin.

"Omega. I need you to come down to the holding area, right now. It's important."

Warily, Omega entered the room, with Kitten right behind him. Raven, Starfire, and Cyborg were standing off to the side.

Athena was sitting up on the table, her bonds released. She got up and slowly approached Omega. She was fully six feet tall to his six-four, so she was able to look him more or less straight in the eye. "The one called _Robin_ has explained some things to me. Things are different here; I must come to accept that.

"So I will not kill you, nor will I endeavor to. That is in the past.

"But what is _not_ in the past is that you are, and remain, a traitor to all I believed in. You cannot be trusted, not by me. I wish nothing to do with you. You keep your distance from me, and I will be positively ecstatic to reciprocate. Understood?"

He lowered his head. "I understand. I will of course respect your wishes."

"Good." And she turned away, but muttered under her breath, just loud enough for all the assembled Titans to hear: "For I _despise_ you."

…

Later, in Omega's room, Kitten was again sitting by him on the bed. She could tell he was hurt, more deeply than he'd ever been. "You kinda liked her, didn't you? I mean, as in _liked her_ liked her, didn't you?"

He sighed. "Perhaps I entertained certain…fantasies. We didn't have the custom, the practice, or whatever you wish to call it, of romantic or sexual involvement, so…I suppose my fantasies were just of us being together, someway. But they were only fantasies; I see that now."

"Well, like I said, forget her. You've got better. And remember, we've got some unfinished business here…"

"Kitten, I hope you'll understand when I say I don't believe I could….do that…right now. It's just…..I'm….." He ran out of words.

The old Kitten would've reacted harshly. But this new version found herself understanding. She nodded, there against his shoulder. "Okay. I understand. You're not ready. Tell you what. Just lie down here with me, okay? No sex, just the two of us being together, okay?"

"I-*"

"And I won't take no for an answer. So c'mon. Lie back down here." And he lay back down on his bed, while she snuggled in close to him, half-lying across him. Then she looked up, took his face in her hands, and kissed him, a fully sensuous kiss. "And, just so's you know: if you change your mind about the sex thing, I'm right here. Okay?"

"I….Okay,Kitten. And, and thank you."

She snuggled in even closer, a lop-sided smile on her lips, her tail curling around his lower legs. Omega was the one person she didn't have to worry about accidently stinging. "Yeah, you better thank me, Mr. Superior Life Form. And," and here her voice softened, "while we're at it: thank you, too."

Her last thought, before sleep overtook her, was that apparently just being invulnerable didn't mean you couldn't be hurt.

It must be rough, she thought, when dreams die like this.

_To be continued…._


	3. Chapter 3:Questions, Answers, and More

Stranger from the Sky: Chapter 3

Questions, Answers, and More Questions

Athena had been assigned a room one floor down from Omega's. Robin had given her some material to read, books on law, case studies, files on known supervillains. This last puzzled her greatly. Why allow these "supervillians", as they were called, to continue to live? Why not just kill them and be done with it? But apparently things weren't done that way here. It just seemed highly inefficient.

In several instances, she'd come across accounts of the traitor acting in what could only be described as a rather positive manner. He'd saved humans and even animals associated with humans (_pets,_ they were called; a most curious custom, that) on many occasions, averted some natural disasters, and fought these supervillains and others on more than one occurrence. She shook her head. Didn't they see that he was just setting them up for the ultimate betrayal, when they least expected it? She'd have to be on her guard. She'd promised the one called _Robin_ that she would not kill him, but she was certainly going to stop him from causing more harm and damage.

Someone signaled for entrance. "Enter." It was the red-skinned girl, the traitor's associate. "Yes? Do you wish something?"

The red-skinned girl sat in the small chair in the room and crossed her legs, her tail curling around her lower legs, switching back and forth. "Well, you can start by telling me what it is you've got against Omega."

"I told you. He is a traitor, and an insurrectionist…"

"Yes, you told us about that. But I get the impression there's something a bit more personal involved."

Athena looked off. "Of course not. He's a criminal. True, the world, the laws that defined him as such no longer exist, but that doesn't change the fact that he is an outlaw, a renegade."

"Like when he saved your life?"

Pause. "That was…unimportant."

"It was unimportant to you that you continued to live?"

Another, longer pause. "I did not _wish_ to die. But the Lords decreed that I should. It was the law."

"But was it right?"

"These concepts have no meaning to me."

"What if you were ordered to kill an innocent person?"

"I would have no choice."

"But you would. You _could_ refuse."

"Unthinkable. You do not understand."

"I understand better than you think." The girl leaned forward suddenly, an intense expression on her pretty, crimson face, her blond hair falling around her. "Suppose you were ordered to take food from someone who was starving, and give it to someone who had plenty?

"I-*"

"Suppose you were ordered to torture someone, someone innocent. Not for information, just for the amusement of your superiors?" Silence. "Suppose you were ordered to, to, do something horrible to someone, simply for the entertainment of the Lords?"

Athena shook her head. "The Lords would never order us to do anything like that."

"Why not?"

"Because it wouldn't be…" She clearly fumbled for a word. "Efficient. That's it. There would be nothing to be gained by such orders. It would be a needless waste of energy."

"But if they did give such orders, would you follow them?"

Silence. One could have heard a pin drop.

"Athena. Listen to me. Some things are just plain _wrong_, and you just can't get away from it. And some things are just plain _right_. It doesn't always matter about orders. Or the law. The law is a tool of people, and people can be wrong." She paused. "And, just for the record, choosing not to choose is, in itself, a choice."

"Orders are to be obeyed."

"Even if they are wrong?"

Athena sighed. "Devil Cat, I see what you are trying to do. But suppose matters were reversed. You are what you call an _American,_ I understand. Suppose you turned a corner and came face to face with this Osama Bin Ladin, an enemy of your people, of whom I've heard. What would your reaction be? Especially if you were a soldier?" Kitten made no reply. "Perhaps you begin see my point."

Kitten leaned back and studied Athena, tilting her head first one way, then the other. "Tell me: did a Lord _order_ you to kill Omega?"

A long pause. Then, a very reluctant "No."

"So this is a personal decision, one you've made yourself."

"Y-yes. Yes, it is."

"One you believe to be right."

"Right and wrong have no meaning to us."

"But by your own admission, you believed your decision to kill him was the right thing to do, was it not?"

A long, long pause. From her expression (and Kitten noted she had a very expressive face), she was clearly wrestling with her thoughts. Then, "He is a traitor. That is all there is to it." She hesitated. "Now, if you would, please go. I wish to be alone."

"Alright, I will." Kitten got up to go. She was beginning to lose her temper, and that wasn't the way to make her point. Stupid, hard-headed bitch….

"Why do you care?" The question surprised Kitten; she hadn't expected it.

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you care, for that matter, why do the others seem to care how I feel about the traitor? What does it mean to you? What does _he_ mean to you, that you should care?"

"I love him. What you're doing is causing him pain. I don't like seeing him in pain."

Athena looked puzzled. "'Love'? What is that?"

"Oh, get a fucking dictionary." And with that, Kitten stormed out of the room.

….

Athena did as Devil Cat had advised, or tried to. She was unable to locate a _fucking_ dictionary—nobody seemed to have one, and when she inquired for one, at the local library, she got the most peculiar looks-, and so had to settle for a Webster's Collegiate edition. Most of the words didn't make much sense to her, but apparently this "love" was somehow linked, in some contexts, at least, to the human reproductive cycle, which she also looked up. But the dictionary was not wholly adequate for an in-depth study of this phenomenon. Her senses informed her that there was a book in the one called _Raven's_ room that detailed such practices explicitly. Raven was not present when she phased through the door, so she simply took the book and went back to the smallish room the others had assigned to her to study it. What she discovered was…unsettling, to say the least. Was this world _this_ primitive, that they were forced to employ such archaic practices? She knew this world had some knowledge of cloning practices, and _in vitro_ reproduction, even though those sciences were still in their infancy, but even so….it made her slightly nauseated to think about any civilized person….doing _this_.

And yet….and yet, hadn't she fantasized, at some dim point in time, some time long, long ago, about…something similar? And with the traitor himself, to boot?

No, no. Never, ever. She'd never consider such a thing. Ever.

She went into the _bathroom_, having gathered that this was usually considered the proper location for such self-examinations as she was about to do, and shrank her uniform, effectively rendering her naked. There was a _mirror_ on the bathroom door that displayed her entire body.

She looked herself up and down. Everything seemed to be in keeping within the parameters of normal humans described in the book. She examined her breasts?—was that what they were called?—they seemed fairly standard, and appropriate for her size and build. She examined herself further down, between her legs.

Yes, everything seemed very much like the book described, except that she had no pubic hair. She wondered if that made any sort of difference or not. Personally, she didn't care.

Her self-examination led her to a more extensive examination of her genitalia. It all seemed in keeping with what human females possessed. The _book_ stated that certain acts involving the self-stimulation of one's genitals could be pleasurable. She tried them, but found them to be only partially successful. Either her nervous system was not configured exactly like a human female's, or she was doing something incorrectly.

Still, even this was a somewhat pleasurable experience. She could see why humans of both sexes occasionally indulged in it. Perhaps she, herself, would, later. She gathered that such things were usually done in private. She didn't fully understand why, but she accepted it. It made a certain amount of sense.

The thought then occurred to her, completely, as if for the first time: if she was configured as a human female was, it made logical sense that Osiran males were also configured much like human males. It only made sense. So that meant…..

….that if she had an organ into which something could be inserted, that _they_ had an organ which could be inserted into _her_, producing not only a more pleasurable sensation (if done properly), but also (sometimes) resulting in offspring. And _that_ meant….

….that the traitor himself must have such an organ. How would she feel if _his_ organ were to be inserted into _hers_?

The thought made her mildly sick just to ponder. Never. Never, ever, ever. She hated him with a passion that humans couldn't even begin to understand. The very thought of such an intimacy with _him_, of all beings, was….nauseating.

But still….in the back of her mind, there was the memory of that idea, notion, _fantasy_, she'd had, so long ago. And with him. No other. But what could that possibly mean?

It meant nothing, of course. Most intelligent beings have random, stray thoughts all the time. It meant nothing. It could _only_ mean nothing.

The thought of a _baby_, an immature Osiran _actually growing_ _inside her_ _belly_ made her even more ill just to consider it. And yet she had no doubt that the traitor had certainly contemplated it, and had, most probably, already accomplished this barbarous act, whether reproduction had resulted or not. (Which it probably hadn't, of course; after all, humans and Osirans _were _two separate species.) But it was all the more reason to keep watch on him, to make sure he didn't hurt any of these innocent humans.

She expanded her uniform back on, her determination all the more for what she'd read.

She went up to the Titans' control room. There; the traitor was standing at a terminal, running some figures. She recognized the design of the machine; he'd obviously modified it according to Osiran specifications, to increase its speed and efficiency. She wondered what his motives were for doing so: were they just to increase efficiency, or to make the device less usable by the humans? Probably both.

But now _she_ was here. She should have no trouble telling if the traitor was doing something detrimental to these fragile _humans,_ who, as far as she could tell, had done nothing wrong and were therefore undeserving of the traitor's misdeeds. The others present—Cyborg, Robin, and Starfire—looked up from what they were doing and watched her closely. She ignored them, drifting over to the traitor, and looked over his shoulder at the readouts on the terminal.

And spotted an error. "Your order of operations is not being performed correctly," she stated.

"Incorrect. I have run these figures thirty-one times. I get the same result each time."

"But you are ignoring the order of operations. The cosine _must_ be included, prior to the calculation of the coefficient. You are not doing that."

"I've found that, unless the figures are carried out to a factor of ten to the 30th power, the cosine is irrelevant in this particular equation, and can be safely ignored."

"That does not change the fact that you are not following the order of operations correctly!" And her voice rose. "You are _deliberately_ producing an inaccurate equation! You should not be assigned to this task!"

"Athena!" Robin spoke sharply.

She turned to face him. "Yes?"

"I'd like a word with you, please."

"Of course." She didn't move from her spot.

"In the _next room._ In _private._" The tone of his voice brooked no argument.

Athena followed him into the private conference area. "Athena, look. We can't have this. Didn't you promise to stay away from Omega?"

She hesitated. Then, "Yes."

"So why didn't you?"

Again a hesitation. "I merely wished to make sure he was not planning some harmful act."

"And that's why you deliberately started an argument with him?"

"He was in error! He was deliberately ignoring-*"

"_By your own word, you should not have been present to notice that._" He stood before her; at her six feet, she towered over him, but he nonetheless stared right into her eyes. "Are you incapable of keeping your own promises?"

She looked away. She had to admit he was right. She had promised to stay away from the traitor, and she had not done so. Now she was not sure just why. "I….apparently have certainly broken one. Perhaps…." It hurt to say it, "Perhaps I cannot be trusted to keep my word." She turned away from him and looked out the window. "Logically, the solution is simple. I will leave. You have stated that I am welcome here, to be what you call a 'Teen Titan,' but there are other such groups where I might fit in better. So I will simply put in for a transfer to this 'Titans East' I've heard you speak of, or perhaps even this Justice League, if they will have me…."

"Denied. You're needed here."

She turned around, surprised, and looked at him with widened eyes. "But—but _why_? It is only logical. You do not _need_ me here; the traitor can do anything I can do, physically, and is better acclimated to your culture, your society. My presence here could easily lead to disruptive behavior such as I just exhibited. You don't _need_ me."

Again Robin approached her, fully aware that she could break him in half with only a finger. He stared into her dark eyes, arms folded across his chest, an expression of utmost seriousness on his face. "I didn't say _we_ needed _you._"


	4. Chapter 4: Mistakes

Stranger from the Sky: Chapter 4

Mistakes

The following day: apparently the humans had a custom called "breakfast," during which they refueled in their own inefficient manner, and exchanged information regarding the day's planned activities, and events that had transpired. Athena hadn't planned on eating, of course, but she noticed that Omega did, sitting alongside Kitten, consuming a plate of something called _scrambled eggs._ That gave her a bit of a start at first, but then her senses determined that they were only animal eggs. Apparently some kind of avian eggs. Osirans didn't have much sense of smell, but from what she _could_ smell, it seemed, what was the word? Oh, yes: _palatable_. Meaning pleasing to the _palate._ On Osira, such words were barely known, except in medical usage. The ones known as _Cyborg_ and _Haywire_ seemed to be in charge of preparing food for the rest, though the traitor's consort assisted, as did the one known as _Starfire._ Soon everybody was eating, while _Robin_ detailed the day's news and plans.

Cyborg silently placed a plate of scrambled eggs, sausage, and biscuits down in front of her, along with an instrument she knew to be a _fork_, an implement for transferring food from the plate to one's mouth. Normally, she would simply absorb the biomass through her hands, but she felt that she may as well make the attempt to fit in, especially after her disastrous performance yesterday, and so, after carefully observing the others, attempted to eat in the same manner as the rest of them. Hm. These "eggs" actually tasted quite good. She could get used to this.

"Alright," Robin began, "We haven't heard from the HIVE Five for a while, so it's safe to say we need to be on the lookout for them. Last I heard, Kyd Wykkyd broke them out of jail, pretty much like we expected. Cinderblock is still in custody, and Plasmus is safely asleep at S.T.A.R. labs. The only one we haven't heard from is Overload. Everybody be on your guard for electrical power-related issues.

"And we haven't heard from Slade in a while. That worries me."

"Uh, Robin?" The traitor's consort spoke up. "I, uh, don't think you'll need to worry too much about Slade anymore."

"Oh? Why not?"

She looked down. "I'll have to tell you in private. It's…sorta one'a those 'long stories'."

Robin was silent for a while. Then, "Very well. But immediately after breakfast, I'll need that report. Okay?" The consort nodded, clearly uncomfortable, Athena noticed, and wondered why.

"Alright then. We pair up. Of course, Terra and Gar have another rehearsal today, so we'll have to make time for that. But in the meantime, Raven, you and Hank-'scuse me, I mean, _Haywire_—take the east side. Starfire and I will take the north. Cyborg, you and Angelique take the west side. You okay with that, Angelique?" Angelique nodded, reluctantly. He knew she'd rather be with Kitten, but, in this case, he had a special plan for them, one he'd already gone over with Angelique. "And Devil Cat, you and Omega take the south side." He paused. "Athena. You go with them."

Everybody sat in stunned silence. Then Athena spoke up. "Did you not say that I was to keep my distance from the trai—from Omega? How does this arrangement correlate with that?"

"You _are_ to keep your distance. I want you to observe him in action, see how he interacts with the people here, especially lawbreakers. Take no action of your own. Consider this a training session." He saw her look, as well as Omega's and Kitten's. "Athena. There is nobody on this planet better able to teach you how to act here, on this world. You are to observe him, and learn from his actions." She was just about to speak up when he continued. "Besides, keeping an eye on him fits in perfectly with your own private agenda, now, doesn't it?"

Athena closed her mouth. He had her there. And logically, he was right. The trai—that is to say, _Omega_—had adjusted to this world, at least to some degree. She could learn a lot from him.

And, just coincidently, make sure he didn't hurt anyone, or engage in some nefarious scheme or activity.

….

Walking down the hallway, Kitten whispered to Omega. "I think this is a bad idea, 'Mega."

"You needn't whisper, Devil Cat," he responded in a normal tone of voice. Athena was a full twenty yards behind them. "She can hear every word you say."

Kitten glanced at the alien girl behind them. "Well, I do," she said, normally,  
"I don't think this is gonna work out."

He shrugged. "We can but try."

…

Back in the kitchenette/breakfast room/conference room, Angelique had cornered Robin. "Uh, Mister Robin?"

"Yes, Angelique?"

"I, uh, kinda know somebody who'd like to come along with us."

"Really? Who?"

Angelique shuffled her feet, something she always did when was nervous. "Well, it's Missy. You know, she helped us out on Apokolips. I think she'd like to join the Titans."

"Missy? I thought she was with Typhon."

"Well, she is, but she comes and goes. And, and, well, she and I, well, we kinda got to be friends. Couldn't she be a Titan, too?"

Robin sat down and considered. "Look, Angelique. Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but the truth is, you're both really too young to be Teen Titans. I'm bending the rules by letting _you_ be a part of the team. But the fact remains that, no matter how powerful the both of you are, you're still minors in the eyes of the law. And there are child labor laws to consider. So I don't really think this is all a very good idea…."

And Angelique dropped her head _just so_, pooching out her lower lip, trembling it ever so slightly, and letting a single tear fall from her eye…..

Robin rolled his eyes. He recognized an irresistible force when he saw one. "Tell you what. I'll speak with Batman. Maybe we can arrange something like a, a Titans trainee program or something. That wouldn't hurt anything, and you both could be in that. How does that sound?"

She threw her arms around him, "Oh, Mr. Robin! You're the greatest!" And then she shot out the door.

Yep, thought Robin with a sigh. Little finger, wrapped around. That was him all over.

…

Athena followed Omega and his conso—make that _Devil Cat_—at what she considered a safe distance. In two instances, the two of them foiled what she'd learned was called a "street mugging," apprehending the criminals involved, curiously without harming them, and summoning the local constabulary to remove said criminals to some sort of holding area. Again she wondered why such beings were allowed to live. They'd only cause more trouble.

(But then, hadn't _she_ caused trouble? On more than one occasion?)

And she wondered why they were so _gentle_ with these lawbreakers. Logically, given the fragility of the human form, the most efficient way to cause them to cease their antisocial activities would've been to have simply broken the major bones in their arms and legs. That would certainly prevent them from any more such behavior and effectively immobilize them for the human authorities to deal with at their leisure, while leaving the lawbreakers alive, which, for some reason, seemed to be important. But that was apparently not the way things were done here, although she couldn't fathom why. She just had to accept it.

On another occasion, one of the humans' automobiles malfunctioned, its brakes failing, sending the vehicle out of control into a busy intersection. It impacted with another car coming from the other direction. The driver of the second car was unharmed, having been able to swerve in time to avoid more damage, but the malfunctioning vehicle was slammed across the street, and flipped over on its side. A fire started towards the rear of the car; the driver was frantically trying to get out, but the doors appeared to be stuck.

Omega simply phased the woman through the car door, and set her down across the street. He then lifted the entire car and heaved it into the nearby river. Then he walked over to the woman, who was still hyperventilating, even with Devil Cat trying to calm her down. He placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but the fire was getting too close to your fuel tank. The car was about to explode."

"That's….that's al—alright," she gasped. "Thank you, oh, thank you! I, I was sure I was dead!" The female threw her arms around him and _kissed_ him (another term she'd learned from Raven's book), all the while her as her optical sensors continued to leak fluids at a steady rate. Curiously, rather than exhibiting the jealousy Raven's book had spoken of, Devil Cat smiled and seemed to understand.

"You are quite welcome. If you should need any sort of statement from me for your insurance, you can contact me at Titans' Tower. I'll be glad to help. And I'll retrieve the vehicle, should they so require it. Now. Do you have someone who needs to be informed of this?" She could recognize the logic of what he was doing: he was getting the human to focus on the future rather than ruminate upon her recent life-threatening event.

Most of this ("someone" or, as she'd heard it called, "husband," "spouse," "wife," "significant other," and so forth) made no sense to Athena, but she understood enough to know that Omega was making a conscious effort to reassure the human, who'd just undergone a potentially life-threatening event. She guessed that humans, improperly conditioned (or, more accurately, not conditioned at all) probably found such events difficult to deal with properly. So that was….the correct action to be taken. She'd have to take note of that, and attempt to incorporate it into her own dealings with humans.

Afterwards, the two took a break from their rounds for the human phenomenon known as _lunch._ They did not ask Athena to join them, and she wouldn't have, anyway. Such would not have been in keeping with Robin's orders to remain at a distance from Omega. So she simply observed them from across the street.

But simply observing him and his little human consort (and what did he _see_ in her, anyway? For that matter, what did _she_ see in _him_? They were clearly two disparate species…) became boring after a while, so she expanded her senses, particularly her sense of hearing, trying take in the sounds of the city, to learn more about its inhabitants and their—to her—strange customs and laws. From what she could _see_ of the city, it was badly in need of a massive cleaning and recycling program

She could focus her hearing on any one part of the city. There was one part, not far away, a largish structure where many humans dwelled in even worse conditions than those in her immediate vicinity. From one of those domiciles, she heard a female scream, and begin the peculiar human activity called _crying,_ an activity indicative of distress.

Omega and Devil Cat had apparently not heard this, for they continued to eat and exchange the sonic vibrations known as conversation. A curious Athena slipped around a corner and went to investigate.

She knew she was violating Robin's orders to take no action, but she was interested in knowing what could have caused the woman to react so. She found herself at a large, somewhat rundown tenement building. Flying up to the apartment from where the sounds of distress were coming from, she phased through the door, into the room, where a large, dark-skinned woman was weeping uncontrollably.

Athena was nonplussed. She really didn't know how to deal with this sort of situation, and wondered if she should summon Omega via Link. But such was her hatred of the traitor that she just couldn't bring herself to do so.

The woman noticed her, and, surprised, stopped. "Who're you?"

"I am called Athena. I heard you making sounds of distress. Is something wrong?"

"Y-yes! It's my daughter….she's been kidnapped!"

Athena thought. If this "daughter" (human offspring) had been truly "kidnapped" (taken by force to some presumably unknown destination), then asking the woman where she could be would be somewhat pointless. Instead she said, "Please remain as calm as you can. I will help. Do you have an article of clothing your daughter wore often?"

"Y-yes." The woman went into another room and returned with a threadbare child's sweater. "Here. She—she always wore this to school…"

Athena examined the sweater. Her senses took in and recorded what some human scientists often referred to as the kirlian aura associated with the immature human. She returned the sweater to the woman. "I will find her." And, with that, she phased out the door, following the trail down the stairs, out into the street, where, apparently, the child had gotten into a vehicle of some sort. While she couldn't track the child's aura while she was in the car, she _could_ track the car itself. It led to an even seedier tenement, where the child's aura re-emerged and went up the stairs into a very run-down apartment.

Athena phased through the door, surprising a middle-aged, rather unkempt man wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. The girl's aura was all over him. "What-get outta here!"

Athena hit him in the jaw just hard enough to knock him completely across the room into the far wall, pulling her punch enough to avoid killing him outright, just as she'd seen Omega do. The man's head snapped back, and he lost consciousness long before he hit the wall, and slid to the floor in a senseless heap. She followed the child's aura into the bedroom, where she found the girl tied to the bedpost, bound and gagged, clearly terrified. "Do not fear. I will let no harm befall you." Standard warrior reassurances for captives in the process of being liberated. She easily snapped the bonds and led the girl out into the main room.

By now, the man had regained consciousness, and came at Athena with a baseball bat. Athena allowed him to strike her with it. The bat broke in half; the man looked at the remaining piece in his hand, stupidly, as if somehow expecting it to regrow so he could use it again. Then, when that didn't happen, he began to shout. "Get outta here! You don't have a search warrant! I know my rights! I—*"

Athena grabbed him by the front of his shirt and dragged him close to her face. He really didn't smell as though personal hygiene had been of utmost importance to him. But then, Athena had to admit, most humans had a rather odd, distinctive odor, anyway. "Are you right handed, or left handed?" She asked, in a purely conversational tone of voice. She'd learned that this right-handed, left-handed tendency was a human trait; Osirans, of course, were ambidextrous. It was much more efficient that way.

Surprised, the man stammered. "Uh, uh, r-right handed…w-why?"

"I merely wished to know," she said, in the same tone of voice, her eyes glowing with palpable heat, "which arm you'd prefer to lose, should you continue to irritate me."

"You—you wouldn't!" Then he saw the look on her face, the increasing glow in her eyes, and gulped audibly. "Okay! Okay! I give! I surrender!"

….

The human authorities arrived soon, shortly after Omega and Devil Cat did. Omega took one look at the scene, and nodded approvingly. Devil Cat was attempting to soothe the child, and with some limited success. This made little sense to Athena; the matter was resolved, and resolved in a positive, helpful manner. Why should the child continue to be in distress? Everything was alright now.

Then the child's mother arrived, and there was a tearful reunion. The mother of the human offspring approached Athena. "Oh, thank you, thank you, whoever you are!"

"Good work, Athena," remarked Omega. She took no notice of this whatsoever, turning away from him. His approval, of course, meant nothing to her. _He_ meant nothing to her.

It was time for the rehearsal of the two humans known as _Beast Boy_ and _Terra._ Of course, the whole proceedings made little sense to Athena; apparently this was some sort of ceremony where the two pledged their allegiance to one another, preparatory to this reproductive activity that she'd been studying. Athena still could simply not get over the idea of someone, a female, actually allowing a male to insert his body part into her, inseminating her with that which was needed to produce an immature human who would then grow within her body, and then, when a certain level of maturity had been reached, go through the process of _expelling_ it. The whole process sounded painful, inefficient, dangerous, and totally unnecessary. Why not simply grow human young in artificial containers, decanting them at the appropriate time, and begin the process of education and conditioning? It made so much more sense. Yet this completely biological approach appeared to be exactly what these two intended to do, and, if her interpretations of human expressions were correct, they were actually looking forward to it.

Humans were strange.

Back at Titans Tower, during the evening refueling practice, the others dissected Athena's actions. While all agreed that she had performed satisfactorily, excellently even, Robin interjected that Athena probably should have dialed 911 prior to making her move, and left the line open while she rescued the girl, for what was called "legal purposes," whatever those were. While it was true that she had acted in an entirely appropriate manner—there being no time to wait for the authorities—he nonetheless stressed certain procedures and protocols it would be best to follow, if possible. She took note of these for future reference. So overall, she'd done well. "However," she said, "I must point out that I did disobey orders, and took action on my own. This was not in keeping with your orders, Robin. I stand prepared to accept whatever punitive measures you deem appropriate."

"Well, Athena, there's a saying here on Earth: 'All's well that ends well.' You might've _technically _disobeyed orders—perhaps we may need to discuss that at some time—but the fact remains that, aside from a few minor details, you did the right thing. No one can fault you for that." "His mouth quirked, in an expression Athena was coming to associate with what humans called "dry humor." "I think we can overlook some minor non-adherences to exact protocol this time."

So Athena was feeling a bit of pride at her actions. Here, she, a stranger on this world, had apparently, as the expression went, "lucked out," that is to say, done the correct thing, even though she hadn't been sure. Perhaps she was learning.

But if they only had proper conditioning on this world, she'd already _know_ what the right thing to do was. It all just seemed very inefficient.

But something else had been bothering her for some time now, which, what with the recent activity, this _rehearsal_, and her studies into human sexuality, human _love_, had been nagging her. Perhaps someone in the group would know the answer. "Robin. I realize that this is off the topic of conversation, but it has been puzzling me for some time now. If I may ask, what is the primary difference, besides, of course, the overt mechanical one, between a vaginal orgasm and a clitoral one?"

Conversation came to a dead halt. People even stopped moving. "Uh, Athena? One, that's not really a proper topic of conversation for the dinner table, or any other group—well, most groups-, and two, where did you come by this information, that you could even ask this question?"

"I was advised to study up on the human concept of 'love', and found the dictionary inadequate for this procedure. But there was a book in Raven's room that detailed the physical aspects of love and what is apparently called 'making love,' or 'having sex' in great detail. You see," and here she produced the book, "it is quite detailed, with photographs and illustrations….."

"_**YOU UTTER BITCH!"**_Raven exploded**.** "You _went into my room and stole my book!? And __that__ book, of all things?!" _Raven was visibly shaking, and more livid than they'd ever seen her. She was almost as red in the face as Kitten, the difference being she now had four eyes rather her normal two. Both Hank and Beast Boy lunged at her, even as she was about to lunge at Athena. It took the combined efforts of both of them, plus Starfire, to keep her from physically and magically attacking the confused alien woman. Kitten finally had to sting her, to keep her from unleashing her soul-self on everybody in the room. Even that was only partially successful, given the state of her fury. She remained semi-conscious, in a somewhat narcotized state, and Garfield and Hank finally ended up dragging her away from the table, down the hallway towards her room. All the while, Garfield was doing his best to soothe her, with her feet dragging on the floor as they carried her between them: "C'mon, Rae. Like I've always said, it's just a book. Nothing to be embarrassed about. We'll get it back and, and, we'll have a long talk with Robin. It won't happen again. Look. Be_lieve_ me: it'll be okay, okay? It'll all work out, just calm down, that's right, it'll be alright, you'll see…." They passed out of earshot of the humans in the dining hall.

A _very_ bewildered Athena turned to Robin. "Did I….do something I should not have?"


	5. Chapter 5: An Educational Process

Stranger from the Sky, chapter 5:

An Educational Process

Twenty minutes later, Robin, Kitten, and Cyborg were assembled, along with Athena, in her room. The alien girl was seated on the floor, in her traditional sitting-on-her-heels posture, and looking up at the assembled group. "Look, Athena. You can't just go into someone else's room and take stuff without asking for permission first. What you did was wrong."

"I am still having difficulty understanding those concepts." Robin sighed.

Omega phased through the door. "Excuse me, Robin. I know I am violating your orders to remain at a distance from Athena, and while I am not trying to defend her actions, perhaps I can offer something along the lines of an explanation." Athena crossed her arms and resolutely refused to look at him.

Robin sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Hard. He was feeling another one of his headaches coming on. "Well, anything that'll lead to a better understanding of this whole clusterfubar, I suppose, is welcome. So go ahead."

Omega paused, gathering his thoughts. "You have to remember, Osira, or pretty much any of the planets in our empire, were mostly continuous battlegrounds, at least when Athena and I remembered them. When one found something that might potentially be of value, one secured it, and took it back to whatever HQ one was assigned to, to be made use of, by whomever needed it, later. The whole notion of private property, of someone having something that another was not allowed to touch, was virtually unknown in our culture at that time." He turned to Athena. "Understand, I am not trying to excuse her actions, but I offer this by way of a partial explanation for them. She simply didn't know any better. She thought the book would be useful to her in her, uhm, studies, and did not see the harm in taking it, so she simply took it. And, as to her question," and here his face took on an embarrassed expression, "please remember that Osiran society was, at least, as much as I know of it, completely desexualized. Therefore, to her, her question was of purely academic interest only." He looked around at the group. "I'll leave now." And with that, he phased back through the wall.

Robin turned back to Athena. "Look, Athena. Taking something from someone without their permission is hurtful to them. In this case, you've caused a great deal of emotional pain and embarrassment to Raven, because she didn't want anyone to know she possessed such a book. Now everyone knows. Don't you see?"

"But..but how can knowledge cause embarrassment? I don't understand."

"It has to do with the customs and mores of our people. The, the mating process is considered very private, and anything related to it is considered private, as well. People do not like to make their interest in such proceedings known, especially to people with whom they are not already sharing intimate relations or are ready to share intimate relations. Do you understand?" Robin was beginning to think he could write a book: _How to Train Your Osiran_, except he didn't seem to be having a huge amount of success.

"But what of your educational websites?"

"Excuse me?"

"The educational websites—at least that is what I assume them to be—that I've noticed while browsing your primitive binary mechanical Link system, what you call the 'internet'. There seem to be a great many of them. Most of them show videos of humans involved in the mating process and are quite explicit, and often deal with the mating process between humans who've scarcely met. And they frequently deal with humans interacting in groups, or before other people. Many of the practices I've noticed seem very inefficient, at least as far as reproduction is concerned, especially the ones where the male removes his organ from the female immediately prior to ejaculation. Or the ones where he wears a small piece of what I assume to be either rubber or latex over his sexual organ. And also the ones where the interaction takes place between members of the same sex, or involves the use of some artificially constructed artifact. Or is reproduction not the goal in these particular cases? Though now that I think of it," she mused, "I can envision the artificially constructed artifacts to be so designed as to deliver the male's sperm into the female, without the direct involvement of an actual male. Or am I totally wrong about that?"

Everyone in the room was beet-red: Kitten's face was actually turning dark, almost black in some spots, while parts of Robin's and Cyborg's face resembled ripening tomatoes. Most of them were studying their toes. "Uh, Athena, those weren't _educational_ websites, those were what we call '_pornography'_ or simply '_porn_' websites. I'm surprised the Tower's firewall allowed you to access them, but I guess nothing's perfect." He shot a scorching look at Cyborg, who only shrugged and mouthed, _have to upgrade_. "They were more for entertainment purposes than educational ones."

"How can viewing of the reproductive process be considered a venue for the entertainment of others?"

"You'll have to trust me on that one. It just is, with some people." Athena nodded. "But what you saw on those sites was not really the way it actually happens, not usually, between two people. And please, for _God's_ sake, _don't_ go using your senses to watch people having sex. Okay?"

"Very well. I do not know of whom this 'God' is that you speak, or why this should be done for his sake, but I will restrain myself. It is unlikely that such information will ever be of any use to me, anyway."

Now Robin took a different tack. "Now, tell me if I'm wrong, but didn't you and Omega undergo a forced mind-link, back on Osira?"

Athena seem to blush, splotches of silver appearing on her cheeks. Robin took note of that. Did Osirans have silver blood? Or some similar bodily fluid? "He told you about that, did he?" She folded her arms across her chest and looked away.

"Yes, he did. Athena, what you did to Raven was very similar to what you were forced to undergo. It was a revealing of information she did not wish revealed. You acted out of ignorance, it is true, but you nonetheless _violated_ her, by violating her sense of privacy. Even as you and your sense of privacy were violated, albeit, in her case, to a lesser degree."

Athena was silent for a long time, thinking…and remembering. She actually shuddered; Robin took note of _that_, too. He'd never actually seen an Osiran shudder before. He hadn't known they could. "So….what is the proper course of action to take upon having made such a…._colossal_ ….error?"

"You need to apologize to her and promise never to do it again. That's a start, at least. I have to warn you: Raven isn't the most forgiving person I've ever met, but whether she forgives you or not is unimportant; it's still something _you have to do_. For your _own_ sake."

….

Raven's door: Athena signaled for entrance. "Who is it?" came in over the speaker.

"It is I, Athena. I wish to apologize."

The door opened. Raven was seated on her bed, flanked by both Beast Boy and Haywire. All of them glared at her with open hostility.

She approached the assembled group, adopting as humble and submissive a stance as she knew how. "I am sorry for what I did. I know now that I should not have taken the book from your room without your permission, and I definitely should not have revealed that I had the book to the group. I…am sorry. I…do not know anything else to say. I humbly ask your forgiveness. Should you choose not to forgive me, I will understand and accept that." And she hung her head in the human gesture of humility.

Athena wasn't just putting on an act. She knew, from her own personal familiarity, that such a public violation was a horrible, _humiliating_ experience.

Raven got up and walked over to the alien woman. Athena towered over her, but she nonetheless stared her right in the eyes. The sheer force of Raven's gaze made Athena look away. "I may, on some level, forgive you, in light of your ignorance, but know you this: I will never, _ever_ forget what you have done to me this day. 'Friendship,' as it stands, is no longer a possibility between us. And frankly, right now, I don't trust you very much, a condition that is unlikely to change in any future I foresee. So stay away from me, and do not EVER enter my room. _Ever_. Do you understand?

"Yes, Raven. I understand," It was much the same as she'd told the traitor. And so she made a short bow, as a gesture of respect, and left the room.


	6. Chapter 6: Deceptions

Stranger from the Sky, chapter 6

Deceptions 

High in the Andes, well above the point past where humans found the climate even remotely survivable, Athena sat, knees drawn up to her chin, thinking. Obviously, she had a lot to learn.

She'd deliberately absented herself from the _rehearsal_ today. These _feelings_ that she was just now having to deal with on her own made it actually painful to be around the others, especially Raven, Beast Boy, and Haywire. The looks they'd given her…. well, she guessed she could understand why they'd feel the way they did.

Back in the Empire, her Lord could simply "turn off" the emotion, make it so she no longer felt it. But things were not done that way here, and perhaps that was for the better. The pain she was feeling was a way of reminding her not to do that sort of thing again.

And hadn't she _hated_ the Lords who'd forced her to undergo the mind-link with the one now called Omega? It had been so humiliating, and so _public_…. But the problem there was, she hadn't been _allowed_ to hate them. But, on some level, she had, anyway.

She found herself wishing she didn't hate the traitor so. He had found a way to fit in, to make friends, even. Why couldn't she? For that matter, why _did_ she hate him so?

"Well, well," said an unfamiliar voice to her right. Standing there, apparently unaffected by the extreme cold (Even though it was far below the freezing point of water) was a humanoid figure, a female. The speaker was an attractive young humanoid, if Athena was any judge of such things, with straight dark hair and somewhat dark-skinned features, which seemed to be set in a rather mischievous expression, at least to Athena, and wearing what looked like some kind of light armor. She looked familiar, somehow. Then it came to her. "You are the one called Blackfire, sister to Starfire. "

The girl gave a lopsided smile. "Guilty as charged." She had to have some knowledge of Athena, for her next words were, "I heard you were a recent addition to the Titans."

"I do not know if I am a Titan or not. I seem to keep making socially oriented and unacceptable mistakes. Of….considerable magnitude"

Blackfire sat down beside her in the snow. "Sounds like you don't fit in well with the group."

"No, I do not." _To put it mildly. _

"How about I introduce you to a group you may fit in with better?"

"That would be most pleasing to me." But even as she said this, in the back of her mind, she wondered: why was this humanoid female doing this?

Osiran warriors, with a few exceptions, are not very well trained in what humans call the arts of _deception._ At least, not as humans understand it.

Flying back to Jump City, Blackfire had the chance to appraise her new…friend. She knew Osiran warriors were extremely powerful…basically Superman-level (there was even some thought that the Osirans might be the "parent" race of the Kryptonians, Daxamites, and other, similar races)…if she could get this one on her side…..well, the sky would literally be the limit. And maybe not even that.

They flew to the HIVE's temporary headquarters, a basement in an abandoned warehouse building. As she entered the building, the members were gathered around a table, planning their next move. They all started upon seeing the unfamiliar woman with Blackfire.

"What's this, another pit-sniffer?" snorted Gizmo, readying some no doubt lethal device.

"_No_," said Blackfire, moving in front of Athena. "Guys, I'd like to introduce you to Athena. She's an Osiran warrior only recently arrived, _and unaccustomed to Earth ways_." _Wink__, __wink_. "I'd like to propose her for membership."

"She's shore got mah vote," said Billy Numerous, his tongue practically hanging out at the sight of the breathtakingly beautiful alien girl. Kyd Wykkyd nodded wordlessly.

"Mine, too," said Johnny Rancid, looking her up and down. The others indicated their approval, with Gizmo, as usual, deferring. He felt women in general were stupid, anyway.

"Okay. So we're agreed. Now what's the plan?" Blackfire asked.

See-more indicated the map on the table. "First National Bank of Jump City. Gizmo neutralizes their electronics, You and Mammoth take out the guards, Kyd Wykkyd gets us through the vault, Billy Numerous loads up as many bags as he can, and we're outta there. The whole operation shouldn't take more than twenty minutes, and that's if we go slow. How's that sound to you?"

Athena spoke up for the first time. "Excuse me, but is this not considered a crime on your world? And are you not considered criminals?" She remembered this from the books Robin had given her to study.

Blackfire shot the rest of them a look: _let me handle this._ "Okay, let's take it from the top. First, yes, we _were _considered criminals, but we've all spent time in what's called _jail, _a place of confinement for criminals. When you get out of jail, you are no longer considered a criminal." She deliberately neglected to mention _how _they'd gotten out of jail. "You're considered to have paid your debt to society, as the term goes, and therefore, you are no longer a criminal. Understand, now? Your information was simply outdated, that's all. Now about the bank: You see, _crime_, really, as such, is where people get _hurt_. In this case, nobody gets hurt. We're planning this whole operation _especially_ so that nobody gets hurt. So if we don't _hurt_ anybody, it's not a crime. We just tie up the guards, run everyone out of the building, and take the money. See," she pointed out to the alien woman, "the money in the bank's insured. That means that even though we take the money, everybody that has any money in the bank gets it all back regardless. So, nobody really loses anything. We just get a whole lot of money. For free."

"I am still having trouble grasping this concept of _money._ What is it used for? And why is it in such high demand?" Johnny Rancid rolled his eyes, but turned away before he did it. He definitely had plans for getting on the good side of this nova hot young thing, oh, yes.

"Well," Blackfire explained, glaring at him for reasons she really wasn't too sure of, herself, "money is a medium of exchange. You use it to get things. To buy things you want. Plus, it's kind of a status symbol. Someone with a lot of money is usually highly respected by others."

That last caught Athena's attention, intriguing her greatly. She knew she would like to be highly respected here on this new world. Perhaps her friends in the Titans would respect her more if she had more of this _money_ thing. "Very well. I will to assist you in this endeavor. But I must point out some serious flaws in your plan."

"Oh? What sort of flaws?"

"You have not taken into consideration that I am with you now. That alters the equation significantly. I can retrieve this _money_ for you in a much more efficient manner than the one you've described."

"I take it you've a better plan?" Gizmo snorted.

"Yes. I do."


	7. Chapter 7: Identity Crisis

Stranger from the Sky, chapter 7

Identity Crisis 

Within an hour, the HIVE Five were hiding in the darkness of an alleyway behind the First National Bank of Jump City. "Give me the bags," said Athena, "and wait here. I will be back shortly." And with that, she phased through the ground, passing under and through the foundation of the bank, her senses telling her where the vault her new friends had described was.

Osirans, especially Osiran warriors, have the psionic ability to manipulate photons, so as to make themselves, for all intents and purposes, invisible, a sort of Osiran stealth mode. Plus it was occasionally useful against some types of beam weapons, especially those based upon the electromagnetic spectrum. Omega had very seldom used this, as he had figured out, long ago, that an invisible person tended to make humans rather nervous. But now an invisible Athena phased upward into the bank vault's floor, and, with her senses, watched the guard through the walls. When he turned away from the monitors momentarily, she moved at super-speed, phasing her hands into the cubicles where the money was stored, without opening them, and placing it into the bags. Then, before the guard could turn back to watch the monitors, she had already phased back down into the ground and returned to the location of the HIVE Five. "Here," she said, handing them the now- bulging bags. Although super-strong, she could only physically grasp so many at one time. "If you like, I will go back for more."

"No, no," said See-more, "the longer we stay here, the greater the chances of detection. We've accomplished a lot here just now. Let's get while the getting is good."

Back at the HIVE Five's headquarters, the group counted the money. "_Fifty million dollars?_" gasped Johnny Rancid. "That's … I've never even _seen_ that kind of money! And all in less than half an hour!"

"And we owe it all to Athena, here!" crowed Blackfire. "We couldn't have done it without her!" And she turned, threw her arms around Athena's neck, and, apparently impulsively, kissed the surprised alien girl.

Right on the lips.

And something _amazing_ happened.

Normally, when Tameraneans kiss someone on the lips, they automatically learn that person's native language, or any other language they may know. But Osirans do not normally communicate via the spoken word; they use something called the _Link_, a kind of artificial telepathy. _Extremely_ broadband. It compares to human speech in much the same way that smoke signals compare to fiber-optic data transfer.

It had been Blackfire's intention, partially, at least, to learn, "accidently," Athena's language. But what she got was much, much more.

She got Athena's mental impressions, her memories, her thoughts and feelings, and, not only that, but, since Osirans have racial memory, the thoughts and feelings of hundreds of thousands of generations of warriors.

She saw battlefield after battlefield, war after war, strife magnified by more strife, the forced conditioning that made the warriors obey their Lords without question, the orders themselves, the special process that made _Prime _warriors different from any other kind, the Lords telling the warriors what to think, what to _feel_, even—for _hundreds upon hundreds of thousands upon thousands of years._

And she experienced the forced mind-share with Omega, the sense of _violation_, and the feelings that Athena _really_ felt for him, feelings that she feared had been made public during the mind-share, feelings that were masked by an artificial hate, a belief that if he died, she'd not have to face these feelings anymore…he'd be gone, and she wouldn't be forced to confront her true feelings for him every day.

…And so much much more…..something repressed, yet also visible, to her, in a shadowy sort of way…another violation, but something far, far worse than anything Blackfire could imagine…..

Blackfire was reeling from the shock of the memory transfer, like an electrical jolt, when Athena grasped her by the shoulders and pushed her back. "Whatever it was that you just did," she said, "kindly do not do it again." Blackfire nodded, numbly. She was still trying to sort it all out.

"Anyway, here's your cut, Athena," said See-More, handing her several thick wads of bills. "And here. Here's a bag to put it all in. Now. We'll meet back here tomorrow night, and see what else we can come up with. Everybody cool with that?" All nodded, Athena nodded, too, mostly because everybody else did. These people did not condemn her; she could see herself fitting with them, actually _liking _them, making them her _friends._ Even the one called _Blackfire,_ who had, what was it called? Oh, yes: _kissed_ her, seemed nice enough. Though if what she understood of human sexuality was true, from Raven's book, that was usually considered a prelude to an even greater intimacy, and Athena had absolutely no desire for _that._ At least not with another female. At least, she didn't think she did.

Although the kiss itself had been rather pleasurable.

What if it had been the traitor who'd kissed her? Would that have felt better? But no, surely not. He was a traitor; she hated him. She was _supposed_ to hate him. The very thought of even that small an intimacy with him made her slightly ill to think about. Why would she even think about such a thing as that? Why?

She flew back to the Tower, carrying her bag of money. Surely the others would be proud of her; after all, she had collected a large amount of this _money_ that humans deemed so important, and she had hurt no one in the process. She phased into her room, noting the sounds coming from _Robin's_ room denoting sexual activity. She knew by now it was polite to ignore such things, and did so.

Someone signaled for entry, at her door, while she was counting her money. "Enter," she said, even as she continued to count.

It was Hank, _Haywire_, as he was called. "I just wanted to let you know that Raven's cooled off a bit-uh, Athena? Where, uh, where did you get all that money?"

"From the First National Bank of Jump City. Some new friends of mine showed me how. It was really easy to do."

Hank stared, bug-eyed. His mouth worked soundlessly for a moment, as he tried to grasp what he'd just learned. Then: "Athena. You _robbed a bank?!_"

"I…do not know if that is the word or not. Did I?"

Hank hit the alarm button. "Red alert, people. Situation here."

Shortly, the Titans convened in the main conference room. Athena innocently and fully detailed the evening's activities, including her part in them. "And then I immediately came back here."

There was stunned silence all around the room. Robin recovered first. "Who, uh, were these 'new friends' of yours?"

"I believe their names were Blackfire, Gizmo, See-more, Mammoth, Billy Numerous, Kyd Wykkyd, and someone named Johnny Rancid. Why?" There was honest puzzlement in her voice.

Robin groaned, holding his head in his hands. "Athena. You've _committed a crime._ It is _against the law_ to take money from a bank like you did. It's the sort of thing we _fight to keep from happening._ Didn't you read about these exact same people in those files I gave you?"

"But—but the one called Blackfire explained to me, that they were no longer criminals, having spent time in this _jail _thing, and assured me that no one would be hurt, and that everyone would gain. How can that be a crime?"

"First off, they _escaped _from prison. They did not 'pay their debt to society.' They are _still criminals_. And, yes, the funds are insured. Yes, most of the people will get their money back-_eventually._ But it doesn't happen instantaneously-and right now, some people may find themselves unable to pay their bills. They may be unable to buy food, and many other things they need. Besides. The bottom line is: that money belonged to _them_. What you did was no different than taking that book from Raven's room without permission. What you did actually _hurt_ people. That's _why_ _we fight it_. That's why we call it _wrong._"

Athena was aghast. A horrible suspicion was going through her mind, one she really didn't want to think about…."Do you mean to say," she began, "that I have acted _against the law?"_

"I mean to say _exactly_ that."

Without another word, Athena flew out of the room, phasing through the wall, heading east. "Omega, follow her. You, too, Starfire, Raven. See where she's going." Although he had a good idea.

The HIVE Five were still counting their money (except for Blackfire, who still seemed shellshocked, for some reason), when an angry Athena blasted in the doorway. "You have _deceived _me!"

Billy Numerous immediately divided. "C'mon, ya'll. No matter how strong or fast she is, she cain't get us all!" But Mammoth and See-more, along with Gizmo, moved into attack formations.

And Athena brought her hands together in a thunderous clap that rattled the entire building. The shockwave slammed into all the Billy Numerouses, See-more, Johnny Rancid, and shattered Gizmo's weapons systems. Kyd Wykkyd was caught in the blast before he could teleport away. Even Mammoth was smashed back against the wall with elephant-stunning force.

Only Blackfire was left standing. She immediately shot upwards, crashing through the building, heading upward, towards the stars.

It did her no good whatsoever. Suddenly, Athena was _just there_, right above her, and, doubling her fists, slammed her downward with sufficient force to drive her partially into the ground into the alleyway behind the HIVE Five's HQ. She grabbed Blackfire by the throat and slammed her up against a brick wall. "You deceived me," she snarled again, pulling her fist back for a lethal blow. Somehow the deception, the _lies_, were worse with this one, the one who'd _kissed_ her; Athena didn't know why, and, at that point, didn't really care. Blackfire struggled, her face contorted, blood trickling from a gash on her forehead, trying to turn her head, but the Osiran's grip was as immovable as adamantine steel. For all her formidable Tameranean strength, Blackfire might as well have been a human infant.

"Athena!" It was the traitor, stand just behind her. "Stop what you are doing!"

"She must die! She caused me to break the law! And I must die, as well, but she will die first!" And she drew back her fist, preparing to splatter parts of Blackfire's head across at least three area codes…..thoughts ran through Blackfire's head, about what she'd learned about Osiran warriors, their culture, and their dedication to their law…and, in particular, _this_ warrior, and her feelings….her lips…..so good, they had felt, pressed against hers….

And then Omega did something he'd never done before, that he didn't even know he _could_ do. Athena, his friend (even if she wasn't his friend, he remained _hers_) was about to become a murderer. He could not stand by and let that happen, but although he was only a few yards away, he was still too far away, physically, to stop her, even at super speed…..

_**{{YOU WILL OBEY ME!}}**_

The thunderous _command_ slammed through Athena's mind like a sonic boom in an elevator. It literally obliterated conscious thought. Her entire body spasmed like a human who'd stepped on a live electrical wire. She let go of Blackfire, who dropped to her knees, rubbing her throat. Athena herself fell to her knees, her hands on the ground, literally gasping, even though Osirans don't have to breathe.

The other Titans arrived. Blackfire was still conscious, but seemed oddly disoriented, somehow. Terra and Beast Boy checked out the hideout; the others were still out of commission, even Mammoth, from Athena's thunderclap.

Blackfire struggled to her feet. Robin readied his _bo_ staff, with Starfire standing by; they'd both seen and knew what Blackfire could do….

"I, I surrender," Blackfire said. All the while, rubbing her throat. She stuck her hands out so Robin could put the special shackles on her, that would neutralize her powers, and she made no response when he placed the polarized band around her head that would contain her optic blasts. Her expression was….strange. Like someone waking from a dream. Neither Robin nor Starfire really knew what to make of it. They'd never seen Blackfire look like _this_ before…."I'll show you where the money is." She led Raven back into the room, accompanied by a suspicious Starfire. "There," she told her sister, indicating several large bags. "We were going to transfer it tomorrow. It's all there, except for what we gave Athena, of course."

Omega went over to a still-kneeling Athena. "What did you do to her, anyway?" Kitten asked. She and Haywire had arrived shortly after the main activities were over.

"I—I'm not sure. I _thought_ I was simply telling her not to kill Blackfire. It was, it was supposed to be the equivalent of a _shout_, through the Link, I guess you'd say. At least, that's what I _thought_ I was doing at the time."

Athena was still only semi-conscious, if that. She seemed dazed, barely aware. She made no response whatsoever when Omega gathered up her multi-ton body and carried her back to the tower.

Back at the Tower, he placed her on the reinforced bed that had been placed in her room. Then he turned to the others that had followed him back.

"I don't _know_ what I did!"

Robin thought later, that he'd seen the Osiran battle foes more powerful than he, foes that could have killed him easily. But he'd never sounded _scared_ before.


	8. Chapter 8: Who Am I?

Stranger From the Sky, chapter 8: "…_Who Am I?"_

_I don't own the Teen Titans_

"…_Who am I?"_

Later: Back in her room at the Tower, Athena sat/knelt in her room, thinking. There was no excuse for her actions. She had been told the H.I.V.E. Five were criminals; what sort of behavior could she expect from criminals _but_ criminal behavior? Even the one who'd shown a sign of affection towards her, the one called Blackfire, who'd _kissed_ her, was a known criminal. She had known that from the beginning. But her own emotions, her own _eagerness_ to find a place, a group where she would actually _fit in_ had blinded her to their obviously criminal actions.

And now _she_ was a criminal, too. Of the worst sort.

By Osiran law, there was only one punishment for the criminal behavior she'd exhibited.

And so she lay back, flat upon the floor, hands across her torso, and began the process of ending her life, of turning off her internal organs, of turning her mind inward, of ceasing to live….

….

Meanwhile, upstairs, a strangely humble Blackfire was telling the assembled Titans what had happened, confessing everything, including her part in it. "And I told her it wasn't really a crime, as no one would be hurt. So she agreed, and, well, you know the rest." Omega had replaced all the money, exactly as Athena had taken it, only in reverse. He'd insisted on doing so, even though some of the Titans believed she should be held accountable for her actions the same as any one else. But, as he'd correctly pointed out, many, if not most, of the individuals present had, at one time or another, caused destruction on such a scale as to require similar amounts of money, if not more, to restore the damage, either in battles with villains or in other ways. And, in this case, all the money had been returned, so no actual harm had been done. Besides, Athena had acted out of simple ignorance, not malicious intent. It wasn't the sort of thing she'd be likely to do again. She'd simply been tricked, that was all. He was unusually insistent about keeping the matter under wraps, including out-arguing a still-simmering Raven, something nobody had ever seen anybody do before.

Omega turned to the group. "I think Blackfire is telling the truth. Please remember, Athena is a stranger to this world, and has not had the chance to mind-meld with someone the way I did with Hank when I first came here. All she knows is what she's been told. She—*" He suddenly started, standing up. "She's killing herself! I have to go!" And he vanished, phasing through the floor down into Athena's little room.

Athena lay upon the floor, in a relaxed position. Already, her lesser internal organs were beginning to cease functioning; next would be her major organs; her mind was beginning to shut down. She felt at peace. Soon, she would know oblivion; all would then be well.

Only in oblivion is there no wish that remains unfulfilled.

**{{**_**Athena! Listen to me!}}**_ It was the command of a Lord. But the Lords were no more. Weren't they?

_**{{You will cease this action! Immediately! I command you to live!}}**_

Athena attempted to fight the command; after all, she _had_ committed a crime, and criminals were punished by death. But the command of a Lord was not to be disobeyed, by _anyone_. She found herself _wanting_ to live, _wanting_ to recover from the effects of the process she'd begun. And so her internal organs began to function once again, her mind began to turn outward, her senses returning to their normal state. She felt herself returning to the world of pain that she'd known, and had tried so desperately to leave.

The other Titans, and, curiously enough, Blackfire, had rushed down to her room from the conference room where they had been. Omega was kneeling at her head, holding her head between his knees, his hands upon either side of her head. Kitten and Terra had moved to either side. Raven, Robin noticed, was conspicuously absent. However, unnoticed by almost everyone, Blackfire had edged into the room, and was kneeling at the feet of the supine Osiran. Kitten and Terra were rubbing her arms, an automatic gesture of support, and, although only Robin noticed, Blackfire was rubbing Athena's legs, with her still-enshackled hands. "C'mon, girl. Come on back to us. It wasn't your fault…don't leave me like this…." She whispered. Only Robin was close enough to hear her say that. Interesting. Very interesting. He filed it away for future reference….

Athena's eyes opened gradually, expecting to see the Lord who'd commanded her to live. But all she saw was the traitor whom she'd been ordered to remain away from. She was still too weak to move, but she hitched herself away as best as she could, rolling across the floor. Kitten barely got out of the way in time; since Osirans mass so much more than humans, it was as if a bulldozer was turning over onto its side. Athena rolled over onto her stomach, but found she could go no further.

"Leave her," said Omega. "I believe she will recover from this, given time. What her mental state will be, I do not know."

"I think we'd still better have Cyborg rig a security-cam in here with her, just to monitor her, make sure nothing else happens. But Omega…._what did you just do?_"

"I….I do not know."

….

Seven hours later, Omega still had no answer to that. He was sitting in his room, on his reinforced bed, with Kitten by his side. She'd run everybody else off. "When we know anything, we'll let you know," was all she'd say.

Omega sat looking intently at his hands. She sat beside him, quietly, waiting. "I…..I don't know what just happened, Kitten. I have no idea…" He kept on steadily looking at his hands.

"Why are you looking at your hands, Omega?" she asked softly.

He was silent for so long that she was beginning to think he wasn't going to answer. Then, "I issued a clear _command_. It was not Link. I may have intended it to be in the Link, and, after a fashion, it was, but….."

"But?"

"But it was not _communication._ Kitten," and here he turned to her, "You and I _communicate_. By sound. Should the circumstances warrant it, I might conceivably _shout_ at you, which is somewhat what I intended to do to Athena, but….."

"But that's not what happened, was it?"

"No. I gave her a _clear __command_. Only _I shouldn't have been able to do that._ Only _Lords_ can give such commands. It is just _not_ _possible_ for a warrior to command someone. It just….isn't."

"So...what are you saying? That you're actually a Lord? That you didn't know? I mean, what?"

"I _cannot_ be a Lord. Not only do I lack the physical height and other characteristics of a Lord, Lords have six fingers." He held up his hands. Only five fingers were in evidence. "I never mentioned it before because I felt it wasn't relevant, but it was a genetic anomaly, albeit a completely useless one, peculiar to Lords and _only_ to Lords. I cannot be a Lord. Yet, I acted like one. I gave her a clear command. One she could not disobey."

"Okay, so, worst-case scenario, what if you do have Lord-like powers? Or even so what if you happen to actually _be_ a Lord, in some way? I mean, so what? You're still you, aren't you?"

He turned to her. "Am I? _Who _am I? _What_ am I? Kitten, the Lords were _Lords_ because they had a built-in genetic urge to conquer, to control everything and everyone around them. They weren't all evil, exactly, not at first, at least, but the urge to conquer, to control was what led to the never-ending state of war that characterized my people during the last days of my recollection. That was why I fought them. They, the ones I dealt with, sought only to expand their region of control, at the expense of all others. That was why I felt it necessary to, to kill them, to get rid of them altogether.

"Kitten, I—I may be my own worst nightmare, come to life." He continued to stare at his hands, as if afraid they'd suddenly sprout an extra finger. He looked up at her in what could only be interpreted as barely controlled terror. "Even you."

"Whaaaaat?"

"The Lords were masters of mental _and emotional_ manipulation. That's how they controlled the rest of us. They made us _want _to do certain things, and left us to figure out how to get it done. If I have some sort of Lord-like power-how do you know, how do _I_ know, that what you feel for me is genuine? What if you feel what you feel because…because I _want_ you to?" Kitten had never seen him looking this scared.

And she could relate. Kind of. After her transformation, she'd accidently stung her own father, without meaning to, but just as a reflex. Did she now have the reflex to sting anyone who got within range of her stinger-tipped tail? The claws, with their electrical discharge, were pretty much under her control, but the tail….it was a totally new body part, one she didn't know how to use….or if it would use _her_.

It was one thing not to trust others. But not being able to trust yourself….?

But Omega had helped her through that, helped her see that the tail was under her conscious control, that it _didn't_ have a mind of its own, that it _was_ just another body part, nothing more, just like her arms and legs. Since he was invulnerable, he was safe to be around; she _couldn't_ sting him, so it was safe to experiment. So Kitten could understand Omega's concern. If his suspicions were accurate, there was really nobody that it was safe for him to be around. Suppose her attraction to him was due to his subconscious use of his emotional manipulation powers, powers he hadn't even been aware he'd had? It was a legitimate question. But….

She thought. The transformation that had changed her, given her the poison-stingered tail, taser claws, and bright red skin had changed far more than just her superficial physical characteristics. She now possessed a brain that worked at a truly superhuman level, and, with the exception of Angelique, was probably one of the most intelligent members of the entire human race. True, she was still human, and some things just didn't occur to her, and, being human, there were some things she didn't like to think about, but once she put her mind to a problem, the solution usually came almost instantaneously.

"Look, Omega. You've seen human women on the street whom you thought were attractive, right? I mean, you just have, haven't you? It's kinda normal."

"Well, I, I suppose I have…"

"And don't you think Starfire is hot?"

"Hot?"

"You know. Desirable. You'd haveta be like the Orb to think otherwise."

"Well, I think she is pretty, yes. But that means noth-*"

"And haven't you, at some point or another, just thought that maybe, just maybe, Raven was kinda cute?"

"But what does any of _that_ have to do with-*"

"If you really had this, this subconscious power to manipulate emotions, like the Lords did, only you didn't know about it, they'd be falling all over you. They prob'ly couldn't keep their hands offa you. But they haven't, have they?"

"No…."

"The Lords' control of others was conscious and deliberate. I mean, there was no other way for it to work. You don't build an empire by means of the _subconscious,_ now do you?

"Besides. When we first started going out, I—I was just using you to get at Robin. I didn't feel anything for you. I just—and I hate to say it, but it's true—saw you as an easy mark, somebody whom I could play like a violin, to get some dirt on the Titans for revenge purposes. That doesn't sound like this subconscious 'love me, love me' you're afraid you've been broadcasting, now does it?"

"No….."

"Look, Omega: I've had people—villains—fuck with my emotions before. I know what it feels like." She paused a moment. "And didn't you practically haveta _scream_ at her to, to do whatever it was you did?" He nodded, wordlessly.

She stood up and began removing her costume, a naughty smile on her face. "But right now, it's not your _emotions,_ exactly, that _I_ wanna fuck with. So do that thingy where you shrank your uniform, 'kay? And lie down face up on your bed…."

"What? Why?" He was still distracted, and confused, but not as afraid as he had been. But he did as he was told, pushing in and twisting the button on his collar.

"You'll see. Now just lie down, honey, face up, okay? Door's locked this time. Just let me do the driving for now." And she slid herself over him, guiding him into her, beginning to move in a rhythm as old as humanity itself, if not older. It felt soooooo good. "Ooooh. Yeah, this'll take a little getting used to, but in a such a gooooooood way….."

….

Down in her room, Athena sat in her usual sitting-on-her-heels position, thinking.

Omega had issued her a clear command. Only Lords could issue such commands. Omega was not a Lord….or was he?

If he was a Lord….it changed _everything._

What humans called a "double standard" was more than just the norm on Osira. It was the _law_. Actually, it was a _triple_ standard: The Lords were subject to one set of rules and laws, the warriors to another, and the Thinkers to a third.

For a Lord to kill another Lord was technically against the law…but it had happened. Sometimes Lords went rogue and had to be killed, or at least overpowered and locked in stasis fields forever. For warriors to kill Lords was definitely against the law, and punishable by death, and by death alone, but of course, warriors _had_ to be able to kill _other warriors_. Hence her vehemence in wishing his death. But if he was a Lord, and she had tried to kill him…..

That could mean only one thing.

There was a knock on her door, interrupting her thought processes. "Enter," she said.

It was the one known as Blackfire, still enshackled in the specialized cuffs and with the polarized wrap-around that effectively neutralized her optical blasts. Two armored guards accompanied her, standing just within arm's reach. Athena rose from her kneeling posture and faced the Tameranean female. "I…just wanted to let you know, they'll be taking me to an interstellar holding facility soon." Athena said nothing. What was there to say? "I don't blame you if you hate me," Blackfire continued, looking at the floor, "After all, I did deceive you into going along with our robbery. And, and, I'm sorry. If I had it to do over again, knowing what I know now, I wouldn't. I know that doesn't help anything, but….. I _am_ sorry. Probably for the first time in my entire life."

Athena walked over to the Tameranean. The dark-haired girl had deceived her, and deceived her mightily. She did not know if she could ever recover from the effects of the actions she'd taken due to the deception. And she could so easily vaporize this little humanoid with very little effort. But she remembered her own mistakes, and the horrible repercussions that had resulted…

First, she'd hated Omega, stating she could not forgive him.

Then she'd violated the privacy of the girl called Raven. Knowing now exactly what she'd done, she doubted the dark girl would ever forgive her. Nor could she really blame her.

So maybe it was time for a change.

She took the other girl's hands in her own and said, "I forgive you. It is in the past. And the past is over with." And then, for some reason she was never able to explain, she leaned forward, took the other girl's head in her hands gently, and placed what humans called a _kiss_ on her forehead. "Now. Go in peace, and may it be well with you. Perhaps when next we meet, it will be as…..perhaps it will be under better circumstances."

As Blackfire turned to go, she turned back briefly. "I hope I get to see you soon. Do…do you suppose….that might happen? Will you….will you visit me?"

"I do not know."

_To be continued…._


	9. Chapter 9: Wisdom

Stranger From the Sky, chapter 9: Wisdom

_I do not own the Teen Titans. If I did, the original animated series would still be ongoing, rather than the abomination currently being shown on the Cartoon Network._

Wisdom

Athena was once again kneeling in her room, trying to sort out these strange (to her) feelings, when there was another knock on the door. "Enter."

It was the little humanoid girl, the one who'd been so extensively modified by Thinker technology, the one they called _Angelique._ Athena wondered why she was here. Did she just desire to see the freak, the mutation? "Miss Athena? I'm Angelique. Well, my real name's Maria," the immature one said, smiling, "but everybody calls me Angelique. I, I wanted to, to meet you. I mean, Mr. Omega's told us so much about you…."

So. She _had_ come to see the freak. Athena crossed her arms, splotches of silver appearing on her cheeks. "Well, here I am. Observe me all you wish."

"But…but I wanted to _meet_ you. Mr. Omega's told us so much about you, what a great warrior you were, back on Osira or wherever it is you came from, how you were such a fierce fighter, saving people's lives, always obeying your orders, how smart you were, how much he respected you, looked up to you. I think he kinda liked you, if you know what I mean. But I mean, he told us there was no one in the entire empire he felt like he could count on, more than you. He said you were even smarter than some of the Thinkers, and I know how smart _they_ are; I live with them. And he said what a nice person you are. So, so I wanted to, to meet you….." she trailed off.

Athena was staring, eyes wider than they'd ever been since her arrival on this strange world. Was the child _joking_? Had she really been _that_ misinformed? "I believe your information is….somewhat out of date." She looked down at the floor. "I seem to be not a very nice person at all, if I understand the definition correctly."

Angelique sobered, and sat down in front of her, in a perfect mimicry of Athena's own heel-sitting stance. "What do you mean?"

Athena sighed. It was not in warrior nature to lie, anyway. So for the next half hour, she related her actions since awakening here on this strange world, her attempt (and desire) to kill Omega, her embarrassing of Raven (though she omitted the exact details of the event; she'd come to understand that immature humans were not to be exposed to information regarding the reproductive process, although why, she didn't exactly know), her falling in with the H.I.V.E. Five, her part in the bank robbery, and finally, her desire to kill the one known as Blackfire. That urge had faded, for some reason, to be replaced by some feeling she really didn't know how to describe. But she related how the one known as _Omega_ had _commanded_ her, not once, but twice, to cease activities she was prepared to engage in, and her doubts about his true status. "So you see," she sighed, "I appear to be not quite the 'nice person' you were led to believe."

Angelique was silent for a long time. Athena was waiting for her to get up and leave, obviously disgusted at this abject failure at pretty much everything she'd tried to do, here on Earth. "So perhaps your time would be better spent around someone more….successful at…living. In general. I don't seem to be much of a success at anything at all."

"Miss Athena? Can I tell you about how it was with me? Would you mind listening to that?" Athena nodded; after all, she certainly had nothing better to do. And anything she tried, she'd probably just mess up. Again. "When I first was adopted by the Thinkers-they call themselves the Kindred, now, by the way-I made myself much stronger, more able to change. As powerful as I could be. I wanted to find my mother, I wanted us to be a family again, like we used to be. I….I thought if I could find those men who took me from her, that I'd kill them, get her back, and we'd all go back to being the way things used to be." She thought. "And I'd be sitting in the kitchen right now, eating cocoa pebbles, bacon, and scrambled eggs, getting ready to go watch 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles', or 'Spider-man,' or something like that, on TV." She shrugged. "I mean, it's Saturday morning, an' that's when all the coolest cartoons come on."

"And…I have to admit: if I were to find those men today, I'm not sure what I'd do. Mr. Robin says Titans don't kill, but I'd sure _want_ to kill them. After all, they took my _mother_ from _me_. They _deserve_ death.

"But in the process of looking for them, I did something bad. I started working for a man they called Slade, who was a bad man. He had me rob a bank, too, but it was just to draw the Titans out into an open battle. He wanted me to kill them, to kill them all, so he could take over the city, only he didn't tell me that part. He said they were bad people. But he lied to me.

"And he had my pet dog, Charlie. He'd put nanoprobes in Charlie, so that if I disobeyed him or left him for some reason, Charlie would get instantly sick, and get sicker, so I'd _have_ to come back to him. It was to control _me._ It took Father Alpha, who finally figured it out, to get the nanoprobes out of Charlie without hurting him.

"But I guess my point is, I got lied to, too. And I robbed a bank, and even destroyed a pizza place downtown, trying to kill Mr. Beast Boy. I would have, too, if the Orb hadn't teleported him out of there before I could.

"Sometimes we do bad things because we don't know any better, or because somebody's lied to us. But it doesn't make you a bad person. Just a person who did something bad. And that same person can do something good, too. You just gotta learn the difference. Sometimes, if you're not familiar with things, new stuff an' all, that takes some time to learn, is all I'm saying."

Athena stared in shock. How had one so young become so…wise? And, and perhaps she was right. She'd made mistakes, to be sure, but that didn't mean she had to _keep on_ making mistakes…."Tell me, child. Is this Slade person alive?"

Angelique dropped her gaze. "No. Miss Kitten says he's dead."

"Good." _Because if not, he soon would be._ The focal point of her _formet_, the odd head-band looking arrangement that was both natural and not, on the middle of her forehead glowed slightly, and twisted into strange patterns: spirals, moiré shapes and more, less understandable shapes. "And what of these men who took you from your mother?"

Angelique shook her head. "I don't know. I've been trying to find them now for a couple of years, but so far, I haven't been able to."

"Perhaps I can help, if the others will let me." _And if I find them first…..I just might have a little fun._

"Oh, thank you, Miss Athena! You really are a nice person. I think maybe you just made some bad decisions. It's really easy to do. It's just that there's so _many_ bad decisions a person can make, it's really easy to make one." And she threw her arms around Athena in the human gesture of a _hug_, which Athena found herself responding to, hugging the child back, actually _smiling_. Neither one of them had to hold back much; Angelique was nearly as strong as an Osiran warrior, but Athena nonetheless restrained herself some. _But if I find those men who took you from your mother, child, you might not think I'm all that nice. No, not nice at all._

….

Omega had summoned Robin to his room. When he arrived, he was unsurprised to find Kitten there, both of them sitting on the reinforced bed made especially for the Osiran's greater body mass. "Robin. I have come to a decision." Robin was immediately on high alert; Kitten didn't look too happy with his decision, whatever it was, and that boded ill….

"I know you ordered me to stay away from Athena, and I promised to do so. But I find I must end this matter now. I can no long go on with this, this insanity between us. No matter how it ends, I _must_ go confront her regarding her hostility towards me, and, one way or another, end it." He saw Robin's expression; Robin saw _Kitten's._ None of them liked what they saw.

"You realize this will probably result in another battle royal, don't you? Are you prepared to let her kill you? Or are you prepared to kill her?"

"I will not kill her; I am her friend. But this has to come to an end. It is…tearing me up, inside." Kitten looked positively miserable. "I tried to talk him out of it, Rob, but….."

"Well, Omega, I don't suppose it'd do any good for me to order you not to, but I think it's a bad idea. What we've got so far isn't perfect—far from it—but it seems to work, albeit poorly. I can't dissuade you from this?"

"No, Robin. We must—what's the human expression?—thrash this out, somehow. It may well be her own emotions are at the root of all her negative behavior; if we can work past that, perhaps things will improve for her. For us all."

"Very well." And he moved out the door, out of the room, all the while celling the other Titans to be ready; things were about to blow higher than up.

As Omega passed out of the room, Kitten took his arm, and put her arms around his neck, drawing his head down towards her. "I'm glad we had…tonight. At least."

He kissed her tenderly. "We will have other times, other nights. I came back to you from beyond death itself. I'll come back to you from this, too. Mark my words."

She smiled a lopsided smile. "You realize, of course, that I'm gonna hold you to that."

"Holding sounds nice." He kissed her again, and turned and resolutely walked down the hallway. Kitten's tears flowed down her face, so certain was she that she'd just said goodbye to the only man she'd ever really love…..

_To be continued…..?_


	10. Chapter 10: Developments

Stranger From the Sky, chapter 10

Developments

At the door to Athena's room, Omega hesitated. Was he really ready for this? This would be an emotional and psychological showdown that could easily turn into a physical throwdown. What would he say, what would he do?

Well, he'd just have to, as Beast Boy would say, "wing it."

He signaled for entrance. "Enter," said a voice from within.

He entered, and began talking fast. "Listen, Athena, I don't know why you feel such a hatred for me; I admit your accusations were correct; I did cause the death of many Lords, I—*" But he got no further.

For Athena had prostrated herself before him in an attitude of abject worship. "My Lord," she said, in a somewhat dreamy voice muffled by the floor her face was pressed against, "I have wronged you, and I deserve death for my actions. You have commanded me to live, and so live I shall. I shall live for you. You are my Lord now, and I am yours to do with as you see fit. My life, my body, my mind, all that I have, all that I am, is yours. Do with me as you will. For I am your willing servant."

But it was the _way_ in which she bowed before him that had Omega backing up, like a human in a horror movie, reaching for the doorknob, and, failing to find it, simply phasing out of the room altogether.

Kitten was sitting, miserable, back in Omega's room. Her preternaturally sharp senses were in a state of high alert, and she was sitting right by the general alarm button, so that when she heard the first sounds of mayhem, she could summon the others. She only hoped they'd get there in time.

And then a completely unharmed but even more disturbed looking Omega phased back into the room. Apparently, Osirans just naturally phased through objects classified as "doors" without even thinking about it, especially, she'd noticed, when they were stressed out about something, or their minds were on something else. "I think," he began, a bit unsteadily, it seemed to her, "things just got a little bit more complicated."

…

"So you're saying that now she's convinced you're a _Lord?_" Robin asked. They were all assembled around the main conference table; Athena was conspicuously absent.

"Yes. I don't know why…I mean, I did give her commands, and only Lords can do that, as far as I know, but she should see that I do not fit the physical qualifications for a Lord. It ought to be clearly evident."

"Well, forgive me for being Captain Obvious here," began Beast Boy, "but doesn't this sorta solve the whole problem? I mean, now she's _gotta_ do whatever you say. And she can't try to kill you anymore—you said it was against Osiran law—so, I mean, where's the problem?"

Omega sighed, something he sometimes did for effect, since he didn't really need to breathe. "The _problem,_ Beast Boy, is that she has gone from being my equal—albeit a murderous one—to being my _slave._ And…more than just that. Something I hesitate to mention in…polite company. I have…issues, you might say…with either condition."

"I understand," spoke up Starfire in her usual soft voice, "why you would not wish her to be your slave. Slavery was common with the Gordanians, and I was to be taken to their planet to be a slave, to be a prize, forever. I would not wish that on anyone. But why would she wish this upon herself?"

Omega leaned forward, hands clasped in front of him. "It has to do with the structure of our society, and the conditioning imposed upon warriors towards the last of it, at least as I remember it. The Lords dominated everyone, warriors, Thinkers, and any conquered people we came across. And we came across a good many." He paused. "The word, the concept of actual _slavery_ didn't really exist, you understand. The Lords simply gave commands, and we obeyed them. You call it slavery; we called it _normal._ The notion of true freedom, of doing whatever one wants, answering to no one, simply did not exist in our culture. We were taught, conditioned, programmed even, to obey. Simply that: obey. What you call the concepts of 'right' and 'wrong' simply did not exist for us. If they had, then 'right' would have been to obey the Lords; 'wrong' would've been to disobey."

"And now she thinks you're a Lord."

"Yes. She will do whatever I say, no matter whether I _command_ her or not. And…there is something more, more than I feel comfortable sharing with the group at this point." His face twisted. "And I do not wish it that way! I, I would like to go back to being…..the way we were."

Robin spread his hands. "Omega…that may be impossible. Or at least improbable, to say the least. Maybe even undesirable. I mean, she can't try to kill you anymore; wasn't that the main problem? So I'm still not sure I really see your problem."

"Oh, you don't, do you?" There was a tension in Omega's voice. Humans could be so dense sometimes. And he did have a temper, although he normally controlled it well. He had to. An out-of-control Osiran was pretty much all their worst nightmares. Including his own. "So. You just can't take my word for it. I suppose I can't really blame you; you aren't used to societies as alien as mine was to yours. Well then, allow me to demonstrate precisely what I meant by the 'something more'." Angelique was not present, for which he was glad. He turned his head, and spoke in a normal tone of voice. "Athena. Attend me."

Athena appeared almost like magic, standing in front of him. He nodded to her, without saying a word.

Also without a word, she bowed low, her arms outstretched, her butt sticking up in the air, her knees spread quite far apart. There was an obvious _sexuality_ to her posture that the others couldn't help but notice. Most of the males in the group stirred uneasily, as did a couple of the females. There was absolutely no mistaking the gesture. Her face was completely obscured by the position she was in. Omega resolutely refused to look at her. "Now," he said. "Starfire, here, is out of mustard. Please get her some." Again, without a word, Athena got up and, at a speed so fast none of them could even see her, rummaged through the pantry, collecting several plastic containers of Starfire's favorite beverage, and went and placed them before her. It was as if they just appeared, by magic. Her attitude was one of complete servitude.

Then she went back to Omega and stood before him. "How else may I serve my Lord today?" The last was not said in any mocking way, but in a dreamy, almost hypnotized voice that indicated a sincere desire to please her master.

"I think that will be all for now. You may return to your room. I will summon you if I need you for anything." And with that, she left, phasing soundlessly through the doors.

Omega turned to the group. "People, that's _not_ the Athena I knew. This is like she's been….I don't know, what you call brainwashed or something. And I think all of you saw the ….'something else' I was talking about."

The others were silent for a while. It was one thing to _talk_ about someone so thoroughly conditioned, it was quite another to see it action. It had shaken several of them to the core, Starfire and Terra especially. "What was that," began Terra, "where she, sorta, I mean, like, stuck her butt up in the air? That didn't look exactly like….I mean, that looked sorta like ….I mean, it looked _exactly _like….uhm, I dunno quite how to put it…."

"In the latter days of the empire, in some different cultures than I was in, it was rumored—never verified, you understand—that some Lords desired for their more attractive female warriors to…..make themselves…_available_, shall we say….to them. Of course, no reproduction would result, the genetic differences between the castes being too different, but the idea was-*"

"We _get_ the damned _idea,_" boiled Kitten, "Do you seriously mean to tell us that things had gone….._that_ far?"

He shrugged, despondently. "You saw. The Osira I remember was a completely desexualized society, but, evidently, in some decadent enclaves, what you might term the pleasures of the flesh had been rediscovered, and, worse, apparently by those in a perfect position to misuse them. Greatly. I didn't _ask_ her to assume that _particular_ position—you saw that, too—I only nodded to her, acknowledged her presence there before me—and you saw the rest. I think she must've come from a somewhat different cultural enclave or society than I did, or perhaps was subjected to some sort of reconditioning at a later time, since their assuming that particular position—only for female warriors, I might add-was definitely _not_ the norm where I was, before I was….to be executed.

"But you also saw, I hope, the total subservience that characterized one devoted to the Lords. That is _not_ the Athena I knew. I….want her back. I'd…..really rather have the one back who wanted to kill me than this…..hypersexualized flesh and blood _robot_."

"So," began Robin, "Just how do we go about doing that?"

Omega rubbed his eyes. Osirans can't cry—they lack the tear ducts for it—but Omega's _face_ hurt when he got emotional like this. Kitten recognized the signs and tried to comfort him as best she could. "I….honestly do not know."

"Well, _I_ know," spoke up Kitten. "It's obvious. We have to break that damned conditioning, somehow." And she smiled a downright _wicked_ smile. "And I know _just _the people who can help us."


	11. Chapter 11: Control

Stranger From the Sky, chapter 11

Control

{{I am very unsure about this, daughter,}} Linked Alpha, {{but I do see the logic in your argument. We cannot hide from these Prime warriors forever. It is perhaps best if we initiate contact in as peaceful a manner as possible.}}

{{Of course, Father Alpha. And what better, more peaceful way can there be but by helping one of them? It just makes sense. Besides, you've been wanting to meet Miss Kitten for some time now; I understand her father will be there, too. She said he knows something about this sort of thing. So you'll be accomplishing two things you wished to do simultaneously. Very logical.}}

{{I suppose. Well, shall we go?}} Alpha, of course, was not going in person, but by means of a "solidogram", and kind of force-field solid hologram, a virtual presence, that would report back everything he would see and hear—and then some-were he there himself. Angelique was simply going to teleport.

They materialized in the Titans' main conference hallway. Kitten and Killer Moth were already there. "Father Alpha, this is Miss Kitten, although she calls herself Devil Cat in public. And this is her dad, Mr. Killer Moth."

Killer Moth's multifaceted eyes took in the alien form before him: the pale white skin, the bulbous head—and most of all, the air of _authority_ he exuded. There was no doubt at all who was in charge when Alpha was around.

For his part, Alpha took in the winged moth-man before him, his large black eyes showing no expression. But behind those eyes, he truly wondered why any man, any _being,_ would deliberately mutate himself into _this._

Well. Humans had strange customs and even stranger passions. That was not the reason he was here.

The Titans assembled in the conference room. Among them was the one called _Omega,_ the Prime warrior. Alpha's eyes widened, and then narrowed. So. This was the Prime warrior his daughter had been associating with. Yet, by all accounts, he had not displayed the mindless destructiveness that Prime warriors were infamous for….

Alpha's solidogram walked up to Omega. "You would be the one called Omega, would you not?"

Omega gave Alpha a short bow. "Yes, sir, I am."

Alpha tilted his head first one way, then another, studying this creature before him. "I am somewhat unsure as to what to make of you. In our libraries, Prime warriors, as you came to be called, were described as not to be trusted. They were described as being virtually mindless engines of destruction, with very little self-control. Unstable, mentally. Yet, from what I am currently observing, and from what I have heard and gathered from various sources, you do not seem to fit that pattern."

"From what _I _was told, Osiran Thinkers were emotionless biological computing machines, with no real thoughts or ambitions of their own. They simply existed to serve the Lords as organic computers. From what _I_ have observed, and am observing now, that does not seem to be the case."

Kitten broke in. "Wait a minute. You were both told that? By whom?"

"The Lords," they chorused.

Kitten's face took on a triumphant look. "Am I the only one who sees a kind of a pattern here?"

Alpha spoke up first. "You….may have a point there, young one. May I say I am impressed with your insight?" He turned back to Omega. "It may well be that we were both…. deliberately misinformed, in an effort to prevent a mutual alliance. I shall have to research the matter more.

"But for now. I understand this _other_ Prime warrior regards you as a Lord?"

"Yes, sir, she does."

"And you wish to alter that?"

Omega spread his hands. "Somehow, I don't know how, I broke the conditioning of the Lords. But Athena did not, and now her actions….well, let's just say I find them objectionable. Or really efficient for her integration into the group."

"May we see?"

"Of course. Athena, attend me." And just like that, Athena was again at his side. "My Lord." He nodded to her. She once again assumed the extremely suggestive posture of complete subservience, kneeling before him, legs spread, head on the ground. "Stand up, Athena." Of course, she complied. "You may return to your room for the moment."

"As my Lord commands." And she left.

Killer Moth was clearly disturbed. "That—that posture she assumed….it looked awfully, uhm, that is to say, I mean to say….."He hated to come right out and say it right in front of his daughter, let alone the other females in the group.

"Sexual," finished Omega. He told them about some separate cultures, and the odd conditioning in terms of positions of subservience that was required of female warriors, and the reasons why.

"Okay," said Killer Moth, "That's just plain _sick _and _wrong_. I mean, to, to be required to do that…..that's just not right."

Alpha was silent for a moment. Then, "I believe I may know something that could explain some of her behavior, in particular this behavior. In our libraries, there is information of the beginnings of a civil war between the Lords. Evidently, some lesser Lords tried to secede from the whole of the Osiran civilization, to elevate themselves above their status, to create their own Empire. They were considered rogues; criminals, as they did not follow the commands of the Osirus or any other of the legitimate Lords. And there were rumors of….unlawful _excesses_ they indulged in, not standard—or in any way acceptable-Lord behavior.

"So tell me, Omega: which Lord did you serve?"

"I served the Nebul, one of the lesser Lords."

"Do you know which Lord this 'Athena' served?"

"The Natal."

Alpha thought, not only remembering, but actively Linking with the Kindred's library. "Both of those were leaders of the rebellion. And, yes, both were rumored to've indulged in…excesses…with those who served under them. Particularly the Natal. The Natal much more so than the Nebul. In fact," he began, "it was rumored that the Natal was not…..completely sane. Our libraries state that he was personally killed by a renegade Prime warrior." And here he looked hard at Omega.

Omega spoke up, not pridefully, but softly, simply stating a fact. "That warrior stands before you now. At one point I….found I could no longer tolerate his vices. I…did not know his abuse of Athena was one of them, at the time." His face and voice took on a different tone altogether. "Had I known….the manner of his passing would have been a good deal less pleasant for him."

Alpha looked at him for a long, long time. Could this be, in fact, the renegade Prime warrior who had killed _Lords?_ A being from the Age of Legends? And yet…somewhere, deep down, he believed it. It increased both his respect of this particular warrior…..and his fear.

For after all, if this was true, he was looking at every Osiran's nightmare: a berserker warrior with no controls. Except for those between his own ears.

And he was looking at every Osiran's private dream: a _free individual._

Killer Moth joined them, oblivious to Alpha's private thoughts. "I've an idea. I've, er, dealt with control functions of various creatures somewhat. Perhaps, just perhaps I may be able to offer some insight. Is there any way we could get brain scans of both warriors?"

Alpha looked thoughtful. "They _are_ invulnerable. But perhaps there may be a way. Perhaps a tachyon scan….much of the warriors' invulnerability involves blocking high-energy attacks, impacts, and energy. But with tachyons, which travel faster than light, the _lower_ the energy of the particle, the faster it moves. It may be a way of bypassing their defense mechanisms and screens."

They took them both to the Kindred Hive. Theta was there to greet them. She was obviously nervous about being in the same room with not one, but two genuine Osiran Prime warriors, but she nonetheless came up to them, overcoming her fears, at least momentarily. {{How do you do? I am called Theta. You must be the one they call Omega? And this is Athena?}} Her fear was evident in the Link.

Omega bowed low, in respect. {{Yes, Ma'am. I am called Omega, and this is Athena. It is a pleasure to meet you. Your daughter has told us much about you, and I looked forward to this meeting.}}

{{You…did?}}

{{Yes, ma'am. You have done an excellent job in raising her, in light of the absence of her biological mother, who, frankly, I do not believe could have done a better job. Humans, I've noticed, sometimes have…problems that interfere with their ability to perform certain needful tasks. Your daughter—for so she is, regardless of biology—has been very respectful of authority, that is, overall.}} He smiled. {{Children will occasionally disobey their parents, but, honestly, this to be expected, to some degree. And, she has been very helpful to us, in the Titans. I truly believe that, had she not intervened on Apokolips, very few of us, if any, would have survived. You have good reason to be proud of her. I would be, were she mine.}}

Theta was stunned. She'd always heard that Prime warriors were little more than mindless beasts, but this one was actually acting in a civilized manner. And he hadn't moved to attack anyone…. {{Well, I thank you. But I cannot take sole credit in raising her. There is another here, whom you haven't met, called Delta. She played a major role, too.}}

Alpha "spoke" up. {{Enough. Omega, Athena. You will follow me.}} Killer Moth had accompanied them, but was unable to hear any of the Linked conversation. He could, of course deduce some of what was being said, and when Alpha motioned for the two warriors to accompany him, he fell in right behind.

Alpha led them to a large room, with a somewhat contoured table surrounded by sensors and projectors. {{Omega. You are to go first. Lie down upon the table, and we will begin.}}

…..

It took a lot of effort, but both Alpha and Killer Moth had the patience for it. Quite a number of times, they would think they were _almost _on the brink of success, only to have some unknown factor in the warriors' shields somehow interfere with getting a perfect scan of what was precisely going on inside the warriors' brains. "It's _gotta _be brain-based," muttered Killer Moth. "Nothing else fits." And so they kept at it. Finally, they got what appeared to be a clear brain scan of Omega's brain. It seemed to be characterized by four lobes, which surprised Alpha. "This is definitely _not _Osiran norm," he muttered, with the help of his voice-reproducer he'd developed for communication with humans. Osiran norm was two lobes.

Several hours later, Alpha and Killer Moth were looking at brain scans of both warriors. Alpha shook his head. "I see no significant difference between the two. Aside from those involving male/female functions, of course."

Killer Moth looked hard at the scans. "We're looking for something very subtle. Look here." He directed Alpha's attention to one particular area of the Osiran brain. "Say. Do you have the ability, here, to read flash drives?"

"_Flash_ drives? No, but it is a simple matter to build one." And Alpha thought, Linking in with the Osiran matrix matter/energy manipulator. Directly below the main control panel, the substance of it seemed to melt, forming into a flash drive portal. Killer Moth inserted the flash drive into the slot thus created.

The screens now showed the brain scans of various insects, ants and termites in particular. "Now, remember, most insects communicate by chemicals, pheromones, and such. BUT….those chemicals affect certain parts of the brain, the central nervous system, enforcing the wishes and will of the hive, correct?"

"It would seem so."

"And don't take offense, but Osiran society really more resembled an insect colony that anything like any society here on Earth, did it not?"

"I do not take offense, for you are correct. I fail to see how this helps, however."

"Look at these scans of ant and termite brains. The chemicals that command them affect a certain area of the brain, right? And you see the neuroelectrical patterns, correct?"

"Yes…" Alpha was beginning to see.

"So what we have to look for is a similar pattern in the Osiran brain. It won't be caused by chemicals, of course, but the _pattern_ should be similar. Not identical, nor in the same area, you understand, but just _similar_."

"Hm," muttered Alpha's voice-box. "I…begin to see. This pattern, here," and he pointed to a brain scan of Athena's brain. "It links with the area of the brain that controls habits and unconscious behavior. Not completely, but similar. But it would fit. She has an automatic _habit_ of responding to a Lord's command. It has been designed so that it does not rely on conscious thought. Therefore, it is not in the area of conscious thought. I wish we had more test subjects…..but notice: this same area in Omega's brain shows a _different_ pattern. One not linked to habitual behavior."

"And," responded Killer Moth triumphantly, "we know that Omega _broke free_ of the Lord's control, even to the point where he was able to kill a Lord here on Earth. And those areas are basically the only areas that show any significant difference in the two brain scans. That is, other than the gender-specific ones we've already identified and eliminated."

Alpha looked up at the human with newfound respect. "You _do_ know a great deal about the control features of various beings. I can only hope you are correct in your deductions." In the back of his mind, he was wondering if it would be a good idea to, should the process work, have each of the Kindred undergo it. He'd long ago decided he _liked_ being in control of his own destiny. That a Lord should come along and highjack that was an unpleasant prospect to him. "But there is one aspect of this process we have not considered."

"Oh? What's that?"

"What if Athena does not wish to be free of the control of the Lords? After all, it is all she has known, all her life. We must ask her."

Kitten went to the room at the hive assigned to Athena, already preparing what she was going to say. After all, she was the closest to Omega, in terms of association, so Athena ought to Obey her. Plus, it simply made Omega uncomfortable, her total and absolute submission to him as a Lord. But Kitten figured she should have no trouble with the Osiran zombie Athena had become, at least temporarily.

She entered the room. "Athena?" she said in a clear voice, "Can you hear me?"

Athena looked puzzled, sitting there on the floor in her usual kneeling posture. "Of course, Kitten. I can hear you. Is something wrong, that I should not?"

Kitten stared. She'd been anticipating a mindless, sleepwalking being, who'd have to be issued clear verbal commands, backed up by her close association with Athena's Lord. But this…. "Are—are you alright?"

"Of course, Kitten. Is there some reason I should not be?" Athena was frowning.

Kitten sat down by Athena on the floor. "Athena. What do you remember about yesterday? In particular, about Omega?"

Athena shrugged, a gesture she'd picked up from the humans around her. "I discovered he was a Lord. I remember him summoning me, to attend him. Then he gave me leave to return to this room. That is all I remember."

"You don't remember…..getting any mustard for Starfire?"

"No, Kitten, I do not. Commands issued by one's Lord are to be obeyed automatically; there is little point in remembering them. The commands must be obeyed anyway; why bother to remember one's actions? Only the initial and terminal commands themselves are to be remembered. At least, that was the way it came to be considered, in the latter days of the Empire."

"You don't remember….bowing to him?"

"No, but it is not uncommon, in some cases, to not remember such things. Not in all cases, but in some."

"So you don't remember _how_ you bowed?"

A puzzled look. "No. Any such memories will only resurface in the presence of a Lord. There is no need to remember them any other time."

Sniffling, Kitten threw her arms around a puzzled Athena, tears starting from her eyes. "Oh, What's been _done_ to you, girl?"

"I—I don't understand. You seem to be in distress regarding me. But there is nothing wrong with me. I am fine. Please. Do not…..worry so." And she patted the human girl on her back, a gesture she'd seen humans do, trying to reassure her.

Kitten drew back and dried her eyes. Okay. Time to get down to business. "Athena. We'd like to run a procedure on you. Your Lord has commanded it, through me." She took a deep breath. "We want to free you from the control of the Lords."

Athena looked shocked. "But—but why would my Lord want to free me from his control? Have—have I done something to displease him?" There was a kind of desperate quality to this last question that did something to Kitten; she found herself feeling sorry for Athena.

She once again threw caution to the wind and put her arms around the Osiran girl. "Oh, Athena! It's not anything you've done! But something's been _done_ _to_ _you_, something horrible, and we want to try to fix that. So will you let us?"

Athena had, unconsciously, put her arms around Kitten, being careful, as always, when dealing with humans, to exert only the lightest pressure. "I—if that is the wish and will of my Lord, then I will comply with your orders, my Lady."

"Okay. Come on." And Kitten led Athena down the hallway, towards the Kindred laboratory.

"What we can try for," Killer Moth was saying, "is not so much to _neutralize_ those brain wave patterns entirely, and thus eliminate them, but to produce a standing wave that will _interfere_ with them. Obviously, if they don't work the way they were supposed to, there will be no automatic control. Also, this way, hopefully, at least, should these patterns prove to have other functions, vital functions, perhaps those functions will not be hampered, at least not beyond our ability to fix. Ah, here she is. Uh, Athena, did my daughter explain what we want to do?"

"She did. I am still not sure why, but I will comply with the wishes and the will of my Lord."

"You are acting in accordance with my wishes and my will." Omega had entered the room and was standing over by a table, out of the way of the machines.

"My Lord," said Athena, going up to him and beginning that peculiar bowing motion, "No," he said, "You do not need to bow to me today, Athena"

"But it is required."

Omega turned to Kitten. "Kitten, would you leave us to discuss something for a moment?"

"Like what?"

"Something extremely delicate. And, and...not nice."

She crossed her arms. "No, I won't. I think I know what you're gonna ask her, and I wanna know the answer as much as you." Her tail switched back and forth, stinger retracted

"Then that is….as you will have it. Athena. You remember what you read in Raven's book about the mating practices of humans?"

"Of course."

"While you were in his service, did the Lord Natal, or any other Lord he associated with—or any other being associated with them….do something similar to you?"

"But of course. Many times. It was, after all, their right as Lords." Kitten paled a bit, turning a lighter shade of red. Killer Moth started; Alpha showed no reaction at all.

Omega's eyes narrowed to slits of red. Kitten looked at him nervously; ever since her transformation, she'd found she could now tolerate a much higher heat level than most humans, but she could still _feel_ the palpable waves of heat emanating from his eyes. Or maybe it was just her imagination. "How many times?"

"I did not keep count, My Lord," and here, her face took on a thoughtful look, "but it was at least several hundred times. Maybe close to a thousand. Perhaps more. But that is only a guess. When not in the presence of a Lord, such memory fades, as is only proper."

Omega walked over to where the others were. His words were clipped, forceful, and intense. "Such activity was never considered 'proper' by any of the _other_ Lords, including the Nebul, whom I served. I think it obvious we are dealing with more than just a rogue Lord here." There was a dangerous intonation in his voice that Kitten picked up on instantly. Omega was beside himself, internally.

"C'mon, Omega, you've learned what you came here to learn. Now come on." She took him by the arm, and, although he massed as much as a steamroller, she was able to lead him down the hallway to his room. Sat him down on his bunk, and sat beside him. She could tell he was still enraged; she could literally _feel_ the rage building up within him. And she remembered that Osirans don't have a lot of control over their own emotions, due mostly to the Lords' controlling them that very way, by means of controlling their emotions. As a result, they, the warriors themselves, especially, didn't have a whole lot of experience in self-control. And an out-of-control Osiran could mean a whole new quantum level of ugly. She wondered if that might have contributed to the Kindred's library entries on Prime warriors. "That's a lotta…times." She said, as a beginning.

"That's a lot of _rapes_. Rapes of my _friend._" He spoke quietly enough, and while he wasn't shaking with anger, she rather wished he was, right then. She remembered that time when he'd thrashed Kalibak, but had been prevented from killing him: the emotional outburst he'd radiated had KO'd Raven nearly a thousand miles away. She could feel the emotions building up inside him….what to do about them? He was, literally, a time bomb. Unless she found a way to defuse him, he'd go off again, and there was no telling what the effect would be, especially this close to everyone. But what to do? "The Natal was one Lord I personally killed, with my own hands." He looked again at his hands. "With these hands I broke him. His death was not pleasant, but it was quick. But had I known then what I know now, his death would have been a good deal less pleasant than it was. And a great deal slower."

"Hey, I'm with you on that." She could still feel the emotional a-bomb building up inside him. _Get him to talking. _"But tell me: should we be successful at breaking the control conditioning issue, will she remember those…incidences?"

His face took on a haunted look. "I—I don't know. It's possible."

"So…she'll remember being _used_ like that, all those times?"

"It's possible." The misery in his face and voice was clearly evident.

"Omega…she's gonna need all the friends she can get. And right now, that's not a great many. I mean, there's you, and me, and…..who else? I sure don't think we can count on Raven, or Beast Boy, or Hank. And Robin and Starfire…I dunno. Cyborg? Maybe. But she's especially gonna need you, mostly 'cause you're just about the only Osiran who's never taken advantage of her like that." She rubbed her hand across his back. "She's just plain gonna need support." She paused and shuddered. "I just can't imagine how I'd feel if I something like that had happened to me."

"If _I _found out something like that had happened to you, whoever was responsible would, even now, be praying to whatever deity they believe in, for a quick and merciful end. And end that I would personally see to it would not come. Perhaps for many years."

"Well," she smiled, "Seems like you're not the universe's ultimate Dudley Do-Right I once thought you were."

"To use a phrase I've heard you employ frequently, damn straight no. Where those I love are concerned, I am most definitely not."

Omega communicator went off. _"We're about to begin the procedure. Care to come and observe?"_

_To be continued…_


	12. Chapter 12: Pain

Stranger From the Sky, chapter 12

Pain

Omega turned to Kitten. "We'd best go." She trailed along with him, still wondering what to do about the emotional bomb building up inside him…

Athena lay on the table, in a relaxed position. All around her were circular devices, similar to those of an Earthly CT scan, albeit spaced further out, designed to induce the proper wave function into her brain. "Comfortable?" Killer Moth asked.

"Yes, Mr. Moth. At least, so far." The devices were not all that close to her; they didn't have to be, so she had some room to move.

Kitten and Omega watched from behind the force-saturated transparent partition that had been set up between the rooms. Kitten noticed that Omega's face showed considerable concern. "How did you break the Lord's control, anyway?" she asked him.

"I honestly do not know. I only know that I did, and that thereafter, no single Lord was able to command me, that is, until my execution, which was a somewhat different thing."

"How so?"

"There were several Lords there, combining their power. I suppose they overcame my resistance." He paused, his expression darkening. "I would still like to get my hands on this Natal, again."

There went that emotional bomb thing again. Again she could feel the emotional outburst building up within him; she glanced at her father, but his back was to them; he was concentrating on the work. The thought, the random, stray thought occurred to her that maybe she should just take him away, just get him out of the area. Maybe take him back to the room for some fast sexual activity. It was the only thing she could think of, on such short notice, to release some of this raw energy that she could _feel_ building up. But she knew he wouldn't leave, not while they were running this hoped-for deconditioning procedure on his friend. She put her hand on his arm. "It's alright, 'Mega, to feel that way. I mean, she is-or was-your friend. For her to be used so….it'd make anybody angry. I mean, it makes _me_ angry, and I barely know her."

Killer Moth and Alpha began the procedure. At first, there was no sign of any effect on Athena. Then, her body began to convulse, twisting around as though she were in pain. She gripped the sides of the condensite table hard enough to leave finger impressions. Her expression was one of someone in agony.

The convulsions became more violent. "She's having some sort of seizure! Alpha, what do we have to contain her?"

"Contain a Prime warrior? The strongest substance we have, that won't interfere with the process, is condensite." He frowned in concentration, and several thick, metallic-looking bands formed around Athena, holding her down on the table.

Or, rather, trying to. Such was her strength, that the condensite bands began to stretch and tear in some places. More bands formed in their places, to be torn even faster. Her eyes were open but unseeing, and she projected heat beams upward, towards the ceiling, causing it to explode as though from a thunderbolt, raining rocks down upon the laboratory and its equipment.

Omega leaped forward. By this time, Athena had broken entirely free of the condensite bands, and was contorting into such extreme shapes that it looked as though she might break her own back. He leaped up on top of her, and wrapped his legs around hers, his arms around hers and her upper torso, holding her still with his own body, with his face only centimeters from her unconscious one.

Again the heat beams lanced out—but this time, they encountered Omega's own face. "NNNnngghhh!" His head rocked back; after all, Athena was a Prime warrior, the same as he was, and those beams _hurt._

Finally, after what seemed like an hour, but was probably only a few minutes, her convulsions began to subside. The machinery around her continued to function; even in her convulsions, it was programmed to follow her head, at least, to a degree. They continued to hum…..

She finally subsided altogether. Still, Omega maintained his position, holding her as still as he could….

The machines clicked off. Killer Moth looked at Alpha, who nodded. Kitten entered the room. "Athena? Are you alright?"

Athena was gasping again, a reflex from a time when Osirans needed to breathe. She seemed to take a moment to examine her surroundings, then noticed Omega on top of her. "Get _off_ of me!" she growled.

He climbed off of her. "I think it safe to say, the operation appears, at least initially, to've been a success." He moved away from the table. It might've just been Kitten's imagination, but he seemed unsteady, somehow.

Kitten approached the table. "Athena? What, I mean, what do you remember?"

Athena's heart-shaped face took on a thoughtful look. "I am not sure. I remember….the chaos wave….I tried to save the others, but it was too late…I awoke here….and _he_ was here." She glared at Omega.

"Okay, everybody." Kitten took charge. To both Omega and Athena, "You both come with me. Come on, I won't take no for an answer." So they followed her down the hallway, with Athena all the while glaring suspiciously at Omega, into the room assigned for Athena. To Omega:"You sit here," said Kitten, then turned to Athena, "and you sit here." It was right next to Omega, their hips actually touching. She sat, but started to hitch away. "You stay right there, dammit!" Wide-eyed, Athena obeyed. She wasn't too sure what "dammit" meant, but such was Kitten's tone of voice that Athena found herself obeying automatically. And finally Kitten herself sat down on the other side of Athena. "Now, Athena. Let's go back a little ways. Okay? You served the Lord Natal, didn't you?"

"Y-yes, I did, but what does that have to do with-*"

"We're getting there. Now. Tell me about that. Were you ever subjected to any kind of, like, 'special' conditioning or anything?"

"Yyyyeesss," she admitted slowly, "There were rumors of uprisings. It was thought best if the warriors serving the Lord Natal were to undergo some special reinforcement conditioning, so as to ensure compliance." She shrugged. "It…made sense."

"You're free of that conditioning now, or should be. In fact, you should be free of all conditioning, to obey any of the Lords. So now tell me about it, this service of yours to the Lord Natal. What were some things it required you to do?"

"Obey without question, but all conditioning required that." She frowned, as if something had just occurred to her. "We were to see to the Lords' personal needs-*" And here she stopped, a horrified expression coming over her lovely face, her mouth agape. "Their _p-personal_ needs. They—they—they did—" She found she couldn't go on.

Omega put his arms around her. Such was the horror of her memory, that she didn't even notice. "It's alright, Athena. Not that what they did was alright, but _you're_ alright_. _What happened was bad, okay, it was beyond bad, nobody can deny that, but it's _in the past_. It's _over with._ Not only are those Lords dead, their whole _universe_ is dead. So it's as over with as it can possibly be. But if you dwell on it, it never will be, not for you. So don't dwell on it. Look to the present, and the future. You've friends now, friends who'll stand by you, who'll never leave you nor mistreat you, or think less of you for what happened. I know this for a fact: I happen to be one of them. I don't care if you consider yourself my friend or not, that's not important. I am _yours._ And no matter what, I will _always _be your friend. Do you understand?" She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. And for the next full hour, both he and Kitten sat there with her, with Omega's arms wrapped around her, and Kitten's wrapped around them both as best as she could, not saying anything, just being there, letting her know she wasn't alone. Kitten rubbed Athena's upper arms in a supportive gesture. Athena didn't have the words, whether in Link or verbal speech, to convey what she was feeling. So they just sat.

Finally, after a little over an hour, she seemed to be regaining some measure of composure. Her head nodded, not really in response to anything, but just in simple non-verbal communication: _I am here. I am back._

"Alright." Kitten turned to Omega. "I don't think it's a good idea for her to be alone tonight. I'm staying over. Can you, like, get me a sleeping bag or something?"

"I can. I, too, shall remain. There may be thoughts, memories, concepts that she can share in Link better than in words."

"Oh. Okay, that makes sense. "We'll be kinda crowded, but okay. Athena? You okay with that?" But Athena had no words. She just hung her head, finally nodding _yes._

It was a strange and quiet night. Athena did share some of her memories via Link with Omega; Kitten could tell by his facial expressions, some of which actually scared her a little.

Around midnight, Kitten fell asleep, leaving Omega to continue the vigil. Around six, he shook her awake. "I think we can leave her now. She's more in control."

Kitten yawned herself awake. "You sure?"

"I am sure. She has gotten a lot off her mind. She is still mightily troubled, make no mistake, but I believe she will be okay."

"Athena? You gonna be alright here?"

"Y-yes, Kitten. I…I will be alright. At least, as much alright as I will ever be."

"Well, we'll be right next door, on both sides. With Omega's hearing, all you have to do is squeak, and we'll come running. Promise me if things get bad, you'll do that, okay?" Athena was silent for a long time. "Promise me!" Finally Athena nodded her head.

…..

Left there, in her own room, Athena thought. She'd really made a royal mess of things, as the human saying went. If fact, except for the rescuing of the child, she couldn't think of a single thing she'd done right since she got here.

And now, the memories of what the Lord Natal and his followers had done to her…that emotional pain was more intense than anything she could ever imagine. Physical pain was as nothing compared to this.

When those who are supposed to look out for your best interests instead either leave or actually take advantage of you, the sense of betrayal goes far deeper than mere physical pain.

There was really only one thing to do. She'd been commanded to live, and she found she now wished to, even though she was no longer being controlled by a Lord. First, what she had to do was to make what amends as she could to the one now called _Omega_, who'd gone to so much trouble to help her. They might've been friends once, but she just didn't see that relationship as ever being restored, not with all she'd done. Then, she'd simply leave. Not just leave the area; leave the _planet._ She'd just made too many mistakes here, and, besides, it wasn't as if she was leaving any friends behind, or even any life, to speak of. Most of the people here hated her, and with good reason.

So she'd just leave. There had to be other planets, other places she could go to, and start afresh. Maybe someday she'd return, but she doubted it. Just too many mistakes.

She got up and went to Omega's room, signaling for entrance. "Enter," he said, from within.

He was sitting on his reinforced bed. Athena was actually a little surprised to find him alone; his relationship with the red girl, Kitten, seemed to be a very intense, and, to them, at least, a rewarding one. In the back of her mind, she wondered how that was, a _sexual_ relationship. What she'd been forced to undergo with the Lord Natal and his followers was not the same thing at all, she knew. What would a truly _consensual_ relationship be like? she wondered. She knelt before him, in the customary way. "I came by to apologize," she began. She noticed he refused to meet her gaze. Well, she couldn't really blame him. "I have wronged you, deeply." Now her own gaze was focused on the floor. "When I was under the thrall of the Lords, I hated you because I believed you to be a traitor. In reality, they were the real traitors. Such was my enmity towards you that I failed to learn from you, from the actions you demonstrated.

"So I was wrong. About … everything.

"I know that our relationship can never be the same as it once was, but you have stated that you are my friend, and will always remain so. I—I, that means more to me than you will ever know, considering all that I've done to you."

He spoke up for the first time. "We all make mistakes, and we learn from them. That is the human condition. And, in this sense, we are as human as anyone."

She was silent for a moment. Then, "I just want you to know that, for what it's worth, I, too, will always be your friend. But I will be leaving, leaving this world. I do not know where I will go, or if I shall ever return, but, wherever I am, I will always remember you fondly." Still he did not meet her gaze.

"I really wish you wouldn't, Athena."

She got up and turned towards the window, not actually a window, but a real-time holoscreen of the outside. "I see no other choice. As I said, I've simply made too many mistakes here, among your friends. They've no reason to forgive me, and many of them, probably most of them, especially the one called _Raven_, won't. And they've no real reason to. I certainly can't blame them for it. Such hostility doesn't make for good team behavior, as Robin would say. So it's in everybody's best interests if I leave."

Now his head tiltled oddly. "Except mine. And yours."

She turned back to him. "But—but how can it be in your best interests if I stay? I've done nothing save bring you misery ever since I awakened here. And, and, my own interests…..don't matter." She turned back to the "window."

He got up and moved towards her. "But they do. To me. Athena. If you leave, you will be depriving me of one of my dearest friends. And you will be depriving yourself of the opportunity to learn from your mistakes, to make restitution to those you've wronged. You will be, in short, running away. That's not the Athena I remember."

Osirans can't cry, lacking tear ducts, but their faces can hurt when under the influence of strong emotions. Athena's face hurt now. She pressed her hands to her face, as if to press away the pain. "Then perhaps the Athena you knew and that you speak of was actually somebody else. All I've seem to have done, since my arrival, has been to have made a complete and utter ass of myself. Although," she said, and here her voice broke, "that seems to've been my primary function back on my old world, as well."

Now he grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, turned her around. "I don't EVER want to hear you say anything even _remotely_ like that about yourself ever again. Yes, you were used, in perhaps the cruelest, most demeaning sort of way. But that was _not your fault._ _You_ had_ nothing to do with that._ You were—and are—one of the strongest, bravest, most intelligent people it has ever been my pleasure to know.

"You never shirked from battle before. Don't shirk from this one now."

She was puzzled. "Battle? What battle?"

"The battle to regain _yourself,_ to overcome the mistakes you've made, to overcome what the Lords _did _to you, and to let everyone who's ever thought anything bad about you see how mistaken they were. That's a battle, just the same as if you were in a war."

"I,I don't know if I can do that…"

He curled a finger under her chin and raised her face to his. "The Athena _I_ know, and that stands before me, can. I won't lie to you, it takes courage, courage of a special kind, to be willing to fight that battle. But I know you have it, and, furthermore, you won't fight this fight alone. I'll be right there with you, every step of the way." Strangely, his eyes still didn't quite meet hers.

She smiled. It had always been this way: He always seemed to know just what to say, when she was feeling down, to make her feel better. _Kitten's a lucky girl,_ she thought. "Well, alright, since you put it that way, I'll…stay around at least a bit longer." She moved back a bit from him, and stuck out her hand in what she had come to understand was the human gesture of friendship and agreement.

He didn't move. He just stood there, smiling and looking at her oddly. "Ehrm. Shake on it?" She prompted.

"Oh! Of course! I'm sorry, I suppose my mind was elsewhere…" And he reached out for her hand….

…..and missed. His smile faded somewhat, as he fumbled a bit, finally catching her fingers in his, and completing a clumsy handshake.

But by then it was far too late for the deception to continue any longer. The reason he wouldn't meet her eyes, his occasional stumble, his not seeing her outstretched hand…."Omega! You're…blind!"

_To be continued._


	13. Chapter 13: Blind

Stranger From the Sky, chapter 13

Blind

Kitten was reading in her room, when Athena burst in on her as if the building were on fire. "Kitten. Get down here to Omega's room, _immediately._" Such was the urgency in Athena's voice that Kitten threw her magazine onto the floor and practically raced down to her lover's room, halfway expecting to see him lying on the floor, either dead or dying. But instead, she found him sitting on the side of the bed where she'd left him, looking completely miserable. "I asked you not to do this," he said, accusingly, to Athena.

"Do you truly think she would not find out, anyway? And besides, if what I understand of these sorts of things is accurate, you should not keep such a thing from her anyway."

"What are you two talking about?" Kitten's alarm was mounting.

Omega hesitated for a moment. Then, "I…..seem to be unable to see."

Kitten dropped to her knees in front of him. "Ohmigod. What…when-wait a minute. It was when Athena was convulsing there on the table, wasn't it? She let loose with a dose of heat vision right into your face!" She moved to touch his face…..

"It was an accident, Kitten. She was having a convulsion. I made the quite logical deduction that the only thing that could be counted on to stop the destructive effects of the beam was…me. It worked. Had the beams encountered the roof of the chamber, I'm sure it probably would've brought the entire mountain down upon us. That would've helped no one."

"Well, it sure didn't do you any good! Omega!" She looked up at Athena, who couldn't meet her gaze. "What can I say, Kitten? Just another one of my many screw-ups, since I've come here."

Kitten stood up and gazed upward at the taller girl. Athena seemed to shrink in upon herself; she already had enough guilt. Now she'd gone and blinded the one person who'd continued to stick by her, ever since her arrival.

Kitten strode towards the Osiran. Even though Athena knew there was nothing she could do to her, physically, she still found herself backing up, just a bit. Didn't she have enough pain already? Did she really need any more?

But instead, Kitten put her arms around Athena. "It's alright, Athena. You, you couldn't help yourself. I see that. I don't blame you for it." She turned angrily towards Omega. "You, on the other hand, Mr. I-don't-know-what-to-call-you-right-now, you've got such a tongue lashing coming….."

"EerrhUM," Athena cleared her throat, a theatrical gesture she'd picked up from her human colleagues, "If one may, might one suggest a bit of a more productive approach?" They waited, with Kitten of them looking at her, and Omega in her general direction. "I suggest we speak with Alpha. I am sure that, given Thinker, excuse me, Kindred science, regeneration of the eyes should pose no problem."

….

"Hm." Said Alpha's vocorder, from around his neck. "This…could pose a bit of a problem." He was examining Omega's eyes with some sort of binocular-type arrangement, which examined the structure of the eyes far beyond any merely visual apparatus.

Both Kitten's and Athena's anxiety levels went up at least ten points. "What, er, is the problem?"

"Apparently, the heat beams were focused through his eye's lens. They went into the eye—and were focused upon the optic nerve, in the back of the eye itself."

"No," whispered Athena.

"Huh? What? What's the problem?" asked Kitten.

"The problem is that, as in humans, optic tissue does not regenerate. Any damage done to it is permanent."

"But—but, I thought you guys could do anything!"

Alpha put down his instruments, and turned to her. "Child, there are limits to everything. We will, of course, try everything we can think of, but there are no guarantees in this matter. His own nature, as a Prime warrior, may actually be detrimental to him in this matter; Primes exuded—excuse me, _exude_-certain force-fields as a natural by-product of their metabolic processes. That, too, could complicate matters. But we will try."

Later, in Omega's room, both Kitten and Athena were sitting there, Kitten, on the bed beside him, Athena in her traditional Osiran kneeling posture. Nobody was saying anything; Kitten was wondering if the two Osirans might be communicating via Link, but she didn't think so. "I'd like to take this opportunity to say," began Omega, "that I am glad you are finally free of the Lord's control, Athena."

From the floor. "I, too, am glad of it, Omega." It still seemed strange to refer to him by _name_, rather than through Link. "Though I must admit, I am still having difficulty with….some things. Some…memories."

"That's in the past, Athena. The you that did all those things…that allowed others to do all those things to you….no longer exists. You are _yourself_ once again."

Athena turned to Kitten. "Might I…..take hold of his hand?"

"No, go ahead."

Athena wrapped her fingers around Omega's. "I am truly sorry for…injuring you as I did. Please forgive me."This last no more than a whisper.

He reached over and touched her head in a gentle manner. "My friend. It was an accident. You couldn't help it. There is nothing to forgive.

"But if it makes you feel any better, I do forgive you. I would forgive you a thousand times over. More, even."

This was making Kitten a bit nervous. But then Omega said to her, "I am sorry I did not come to you right away with this…problem. But I suppose I…have a certain amount of pride that I was not exactly aware of, until it happened. I didn't want anyone to think of me as a cripple. But that is exactly what I am." He sighed. "I just didn't want to admit it."

"Well, just for the record, yeah, maybe you can't see. But that's all that's changed about you. You're still the greatest guy in the whole universe. And I _don't _mean just in bed, either. Though now that I think of it, you're pretty good there, too." She glanced at Athena, whose face was glowing silver. _Ah hah. Maybe a little jealously there?_ And Kitten grinned, just a little.

…

Brainiac approached the third planet with extreme caution. His stealth mode was fully engaged; even had someone been standing right in front of him, they still wouldn't see his cybership, of which he was, of course, an integral part.

In order to fulfill his program, to absorb all knowledge and then to archive everything, the entire universe, he first had to defeat the enhanced power beings of this planet. They had been a major obstacle in his way towards doing that, in the past, and there was no reason to believe that would change in the future. His intellect, second to none, began working on a logical solution to the matter.

Of course. In order to assimilate this world, he first had to assimilate those beings who'd thwarted him in the past. Simple. That shouldn't be too difficult. He began gathering data on the most powerful….

_To be continued…_


	14. Chapter 14: An Unwelcome Visitor

Stranger From the Sky, chapter 14

An Unwelcome Visitor

"Uhm, Athena? Would you mind stepping into the next room or something?"

"Why? Can I not be of some service here?"

"Not…..at this time. I'd just like some alone time with Omega, please."

"Alone ti-* Oh! I see what you mean." And she hurriedly left the room.

Back inside the room, Kitten was busy disrobing. "Hey, 'Mega. Do that thing where you shrink your uniform, 'kay?"

…..

Superman had been on his usual patrol of Metropolis when he heard the scream. Judging from his hearing, it was the scream of a woman descending from a considerable height. Inwardly he sighed somewhat; yes, it _could_ be a legitimate accident, but sometimes women deliberately threw themselves from a high location, knowing the Man of Steel would rescue them before they hit the ground. It was a way, a cockeyed way, true, of meeting him. He sincerely hoped this wasn't one of them. Batman didn't have this kind of problem.

And so, at super-speed, he zoomed past the skyscrapers, zeroing in on the screams. There; a woman was just falling past the tenth floor of a thirty-story building. Zooming down, he caught her just as she was about to hit the ground.'

"Oh, thank you, Superman! Thank you! I, I don't know what happened, I just lost my balance…." Well, it _could_ have happened like that, he guessed. And she threw her arms around him and kissed him fervently. He was about to push her away when she _changed_, becoming something like quicksilver, and flowing over his whole body. Then, to the surprised onlookers, they both just disappeared from sight in a flash of light.

Flying in her invisible jet, Wonder Woman received an urgent call, and from Batman, no less. This was unusual. Batman was usually the ultimate loner, preferring to do things his way, without any "interference" from any others. But now _he_ was calling _her_. "I'm here, Bruce. I take it this isn't a social call."

"Far from it. Have you seen Superman, any of the Green Lanterns, Captain Marvel, the Flash, or for that matter, any other of the major members of the Justice League? For that matter, what about Green Arrow or Black Canary? Lately, I mean? Have you even heard from them?" He seemed unusually intense, even for him.

"No, I haven't. Should I have?"

"We _are_ supposed to keep in touch, you know. But I haven't heard from any of them for the past two days. That's too long."

"I agree, but what-*"

"And it goes further than that. I've also heard—through some sources—that some of the more powerful supervillains have also disappeared. Nobody's seen any evidence of Bizarro, Giganta, Sinestro, Atomic Skull, Doctor Polaris, or Evil Star. Not to mention several other notably powerful beings. They just seemed to have vanished from the face of the Earth. Even Luthor's disappeared."

"So what are you saying?"

"Somebody appears to be collecting, not just heroes, but enhanced power beings of all types, for purposes unknown. But that indicates a global agenda. So be on your guard. Anything or anybody could be a trap. Be extra careful. And it might be a good idea to keep your comm link open at all times."

"Will do." She saw something outside the jet, on the ocean below. Flying closer, it appeared to be a small boy in a raft, holding a broken paddle, and trying, desperately, and without a great deal of success, to fight off several large sharks that had apparently decided he was on the buffet today.

Hovering over him, she lowered the ladder down to his raft. He instantly grabbed hold of it and began hauling himself up, just as the sharks succeeded in demolishing his raft. "Thank, you, lady, I thought I was a goner for sure." He gasped.

"Well, you're welcome. Now just strap in back there, and I'll have you on land in no time."

Since her eyes were on the controls of the jet, she didn't see him morph into a formless silver shroud that, in less than a second, enveloped her completely, and then disappeared in a flash of light.

In the Batcave, Batman examined his readouts. Now Wonder Woman had joined the missing. His concern began to mount….

Robin and Starfire had just completed a seriously intense bout of lovemaking when his communicator beeped, a special beep he'd programmed into it long ago. He automatically answered it; Starfire didn't object; she knew, herself, that this particular call must be of the utmost urgency.

"Robin, this is Batman. Members of the Justice League, and quite a few super-villiains—have been disappearing over the last two days. Something's obviously going on. So be on your-*" And suddenly the call just ended.

Robin stared at the dead cell phone. Had somebody gotten the better of _Batman?_ He hadn't thought that was possible.

…

Alpha was examining Omega's eyes again, trying to find some way to work some sort of regeneration process, when he noticed something very, very odd: deep within Omega's optical sensors, and spread throughout his optic nerve, were objects he'd never seen before. They weren't cells, as such, nor were they anything in his experience. They weren't atoms, they weren't enlarged atomic nuclei, or anything else he could identify. They actually didn't appear to be made of _matter_ at all, at least, not any kind of matter he was familiar with, nor energy. But they were discrete objects, and they were _moving_, and, wherever they moved, something happened.

Some of the damaged cells in Omega's optic nerves were regenerating on their own, but others…others were changing, changing into something completely different.

Becoming something _else_.

Something about the process made Alpha uneasy on a level he couldn't fully understand, and that took some doing. Here was a phenomenon with which he was completely unfamiliar, and that did not seem to obey any laws of science he was aware of, or could even theorize about. What could these….._things…_be? And what were they doing in this Prime warrior?

So perhaps there were some basic questions to be asked here. Alpha had assumed that the being before him was an Osiran Prime warrior. But was he? He'd broken the Lords' control over him, all by himself, and issued Lord-like commands to another. Yet he was not a Lord. And, unless their libraries were vastly in error, he was exhibiting certain characteristics that were not consistent with what they knew of Prime warriors, either. He was certainly no Thinker.

So what did that make him?

…..

Brainiac surveyed his captives. Not that he needed to, in "person," so to speak, but he did so nonetheless. Logically, he should have placed them in time-stasis fields, but the problem with such fields was that one couldn't _learn_ anything about an object or being encased in such a field. So he had to settle for a kind of suspended animation process; at least this way, he could examine them, see, to use the human expression, what made them tick. Idly, he wondered where that phrase came from. Not that it mattered.

His programming was to digitize the entire universe, archive it, acquire all the knowledge available in it, and then delete the original copy. But he had to admit to himself, some cultures were decidedly primitive. Some didn't even have radio communications, let alone high-end computerization, or quantum-based technology. It did seem to be something of a waste.

But his programming did not allow for individual discretion in the matter.

His collection of enhanced power beings was coming along nicely. He already had the most powerful, as well as the most tactically dangerous.

Keeping them in suspended-animation chambers was costly, in terms of power expenditure, but Braniac had certain tests he needed to run upon these beings, and so felt it worthwhile.

Of course, the process of running these tests produced that peculiar organic phenomenon known as _pain,_ but Brainiac, even if he had enough emotional component to care about such a thing in the first place (which he didn't), could not allow such a small thing as that to prevent him from acquiring the all-important knowledge that he needed.

…

In her room, Athena dithered. There was really nothing to do, at least, that she could do, but she felt a kind of nervous energy. She wished she had a battle to take part in, except, if what Omega said was true, she did….it was just more subtle than anything that would relieve her immediate stress.

She found herself at Kitten's door. "Enter," said a voice from within. Athena was surprised to find Kitten lying on her bed, reading a magazine, by herself, or even in her room, given the…._intensity_…of her relationship with Omega. "I find myself at odds," she began, "with reality."

Kitten's eyebrows arched. "Oh? How so?"

"Reality says I must do nothing. Something inside me is telling me otherwise."

Kitten smiled, putting down her magazine. "I know what you're talking about. You feel like you gotta do something, but there's nothing to do. At least, nothing for _you_ to do. Right?"

"If I understand the feeling correctly, yes."

Kitten sighed, sitting up. "Well, Athena, in a case like this, there's really only ONE thing for girls like us to do."

"Oh? What's that?"

Ten minutes later, the pair of them, the tall, chalk-white Osiran and the considerably shorter bright-red-skinned blond, were at the food court at the local mall. Kitten was trying to show Athena the proper way to eat a pretzel. "And _some_ people prefer spicy brown mustard, but I've always preferred standard yellow mustard, myself."

"Mustard." Kitten shot her a worried glance. Would Athena associate the condiment with her ordeal? After all, just the other day, Omega had made use of Starfire's being out of it as a means of demonstrating, to the others, the complete and total subservience Athena had been under. Kitten hoped this didn't bring about a bad association. "And one always consumes such nutrients via the mouth?"

A sigh of relief. "Yeah. It may be inefficient, but it's just our way of doin' things. In fact, trying to consume it any other way, will usually just get you funny looks. Oh, now, wait a minute, I forgot to tell you about napkins…..say, that Osiran food-absorption thingy does come in handy when you get it on your hands, doesn't it?"

…

Rain washed against the windows of the Tower, coming down in sheets. Within her room, Raven was sitting on her bed, brushing her hair after getting out of the shower.

She'd never developed any routine or ritual as to how many times to brush it, just until it felt…..properly brushed. Raven had never believed herself to be all that physically attractive, and so had just never developed any of the practices of girls who did. As far as she was concerned, all she had to do was keep her hair short, washed clean, and clipped. Anything more was a waste of time.

Although lately…..what with her relationship with Hank, she'd taken to being more aware of her physical appearance than she had been before. Not that she was doing anything all that much more differently, just…..being more aware of it. Was all.

Like the rest of them, she'd heard the news about Athena, about how the Osiran girl had been basically brainwashed to be a sexual slave for who knew how many hundreds, maybe even thousands, of times. How would she feel, she wondered, if that were her? How would she feel if she "woke up" one day, and discovered that she'd been used, sexually, hundreds upon hundreds of times—and had had absolutely no say-so about it whatsoever? That she'd been brutalized, dominated, used like a piece of meat, basically, for—how long? Years?

Part of her, her demonic heritage, chortled gleefully, taking a certain amount of gloating delight in the alien girl's forced disgrace. After all, she _had_ revealed Raven's possession of the embarrassing book to the entire group, so this felt like a certain degree of payback.

But a much larger part of her was horrified. While she might not like Athena all that much (or at all, for that matter), the notion of anyone, male or female, being used like that…was _appalling_.

Raven was no stranger to the feeling of being used. After all, there was her father, then Malchior….but this was….. terrible.

The old Raven would've simply shrugged and thought something along the lines of "bad things happen to everybody," or maybe, "that was in the past, but now it's time to start getting over it," or perhaps, well, yes, that was bad, true, but _she_ had nothing to do with it. There was no reason for _her_ to feel guilty about it.

So why did she?

How _would_ she feel if it were her? And now…..everybody in the group knew that Athena had basically been the Osiran Lord Natal's personal sexual slave. How would she feel if that were her? How would she feel if, all of a sudden, all of her friends knew that about her?

There are, after all, degrees of violations, and there are degrees of the sense of violation.

Raven looked down at the brush in her hand. She found she suddenly just didn't have the heart for continued brushing anymore.

Someone signaled for entrance. "Come in," she said.

It was Hank. "Hey. Just was walking by and thought I'd drop in." He hesitated. "You alright?"

"Yes. Just…thinking."

He came over and sat by her on the bed. "Penny for 'em."

She smiled and shook her head. "They're not worth that much on today's market. To be honest, just thinking about…..Athena. And what she must've gone through."

"It's no consolation, I know, but, at least, while it was happening, she didn't really know what was going on, herself. She knows _now,_ of course…..and, I guess, how we react, how we respond to her from this point on….well, that'll determine a lot of things."

"So how _will_ we react?" Raven murmured, as if to herself.

He sighed and shook his head. "Don't really know. I mean, I've heard of some pretty bad things—in the service, you hear all kinds of horror stories—but I've never had one really brought to my attention. Never _met_ someone so…brutalized like that. Never had it rubbed in my face, you might say."

Raven drew a deep breath. "Well, one thing's for certain. I doubt she'll seek out my shoulder to cry on, considering recent events. And, perhaps that's for the better."

He put his arm around her. "So…..how will you act towards her, considering this incident?"

She smiled. "In other words, just how forgiving am I, in light of all she's gone through? A good deal more than I used to be." Deep breath. "Perhaps I won't treat her as a leper or anything, but I still don't know what to make of her." Then, as suddenly as a scream, she realized something: they were alone in the Tower.

_To be continued…_


	15. Chapter 15: Attack

Stranger From the Sky, chapter 15

Attack

"I think my sense of taste must be deficient, for I can determine no significant difference between the spicy mustard and the standard yellow." Athena took another big bite out of her pretzel. Apparently, Osirans don't do the ladylike-bite thing: this bite was easily half the pretzal.

"Well, with your ability to just absorb biomass directly, it wouldn't shock me to learn that such a sense as a sense of taste has atrophied, over the years. How-*" Kitten's T-cell crackled. _"-*itten, Athena. *Crackle* *-under attack,"_ Starfire's voice came over the communicator.

Kitten grabbed her T-cell. "Star! What's going on? Who's attacking-*"

"_No time. *Crackle* Can't talk. Robin's down! Don't come back by any above ground entrance…..they are watching. Use another way-*Crackle*"_ And communication ended.

Kitten turned to Athena. "Athena, what can your senses tell us? What's going on back there?"

The Osiran girl turned and looked hard in the direction of the tower. "I see no sign of any attack. And…correct me if I'm wrong, but that did not sound like Starfire to me."

Kitten was grim. "Me, neither. She used contractions, and was unusually insistent that we return by a certain route. That has 'trap' written all over it." She turned to Athena. "But what can you tell me about what's going on back there? Raven and Hank were supposed to be there…."

"I see no sign of them. Nor of Starfire, Robin, or any of the others. Might I suggest an alternative course of action?"

…

By means of a special boom-tube they'd set up in advance for just this very sort of thing, the two returned to the Kindred's Hive. "Alpha," Athena said, "unless I'm very mistaken, your systems are probably under attack, even as we speak."

"Indeed they are. Something seems very insistent upon acquiring access to our systems. We are, so far, holding firm, but…"

Athena spoke up. "Perhaps….perhaps that is not the way to approach this. If you will allow me, I'll build a subroutine that will give the attacker or attackers the illusion of entry, but without actually allowing access. And, in the process, give us some insight as to who our assailant is. " Alpha gestured to a corner of their systems operation; so closely linked were the Kindred with their own computer systems, that an attack upon one constituted an attack upon the other. Athena got to work, reconfiguring a part of the Kindred's own systems to mimic the whole…."Where is Angelique? Or Missy?"

"Maria is here, in her room. All this started after her return. And yes, we are sure it is her; standard security protocol. As for Missy, I cannot say."

The three gathered around the terminal Athena had essentially built, in the space of seconds. "See here," Athena pointed out, "enhanced power beings from all over the globe have been disappearing. To me, this indicates a _specific _strategic approach. You will note that many of these beings have run afoul of the being known as Brainiac. They were the ones to disappear first."

Alpha looked at her. "Have you a tactical proposal? As it is, we are basically under siege from this Brainiac."

A glimmer of one was coming to Athena, when Omega appeared from around the corner. "Omega! You—you should not be out of bed!" But he just nodded.

Kitten ran to him. "But, honey, you can't see! You, you need to take it easy until the Kindred can-*"

"But I can see, Kitten. I, I don't know how, but I can. Though not the same way as before…"

Kitten looked to Alpha, who shrugged. "It seems he…healed on his own. We do not understand it, not at all."

Omega came over and sat on his heels before them. "So fill me in. What's been happening?"

….

"So…..it would seem that our first order of business is finding Brainiac."

Alpha spoke up, via his voder, so Kitten could hear as well. "Incorrect. We already know approximately where he is…by means of where he is not."

Brainiac observed his captives, some twisting and writhing in the pain induced by the tests he was running. He was particularly interested in the one called _Superman_ and the ones known as _Green Lanterns._ The workings of the power rings interested him greatly, but it seemed to involve the human _will,_ and, as such, was really beyond his ability to reproduce. However, the actual mechanism was still fascinating.

The enhanced power beings known as the _Teen Titans_ had not completely eluded him, but he could not account for the whereabouts of the ones known as _Raven_ and _Haywire._ And there were others missing from his collection, as well. Plus, the anomaly in one of the rooms at Titans' Tower disturbed him, to some degree…..

But no matter. He knew where they were based, and knew they had to return to it sooner or later. So it was only a matter of time…

His shields were rocked as an unexpected energy surge struck them. He checked his external sensors…and his internal ones reported another surge of energy. The captives were gone. But how? And where?

There was an unfamiliar black box precisely where the captives had been. If Brainiac had been human enough, he would have smiled at the childish maneuver. Obviously, the box was some sort of destructive device. How the humans had found him here really no longer mattered. This cybership was compromised…

…..but Brainiac had not become the menace he had by not making preparations. This was _one_ cybership. He had plenty more, scattered throughout the galaxy.

So he simply digitized his own ship, and deleted the original, after saving the information from the first one, of course.

If Brainiac had had the concept of _ultimate sin_, it would have been to deliberately or through negligence, allow loss of information.

_To be continued…_


	16. Chapter 16: A Slight Alteration

Stranger From the Sky, chapter 16

A Slight Alteration….

Back at the Kindred's Hive, the other heroes were being released from the storage pods Brainiac had had them in. It wasn't a pleasant process…."Please remain as calm as you can," Omega's voice sounded throughout their midst, even as he, Kitten, Athena, Haywire, and Raven moved among them, helping those of them who seemed to be having trouble righting themselves, "the discomfort you are currently feeling is the last stage of the removal of the nanoprobes from your bodies." Even some villains were present, Lex Luthor in particular rubbing the back of his neck and trying to overcome this tingling, _queasy_ feeling. "Where—where _are_ we?"

Robin was over by Starfire, who was still out. "Is…is she gonna be alright?" Right at that time, he needed some reassurance; the notion of a life without her was just too painful to even contemplate.

Athena knelt by her, scanning the Tameranean with her senses. "She will be fine. I can sense no permanent damage, though I would advise her to not exert herself for a few days."

"But what _happened?_ And why did it hit Star worse than any of us?"

"I do not know. But I believe she was the one who called us, under coercion from Brainiac. She fought the effect of his control however, enough to use idioms she normally does not use, in order to alert us. That resistance might account for her current state: she fought the effect harder. And she won, in part, in that it did alert us. But calm yourself; She is unharmed." She gestured to the Kindred known as Epsilon. {{Please, if you would, examine this one more thoroughly. She may have injuries I cannot sense.}} Epsilon conferred briefly with Alpha, then {{Certainly, my Lady.}} He produced his instruments and began scanning.

Athena was taken back a bit. My Lady? Back on Osira, or, rather, the conquered world she'd last been headquartered on, she'd had a certain rank, but it was due solely to her status as a researcher and warrior. She was uncertain what to make of this….deference?

"Dude….." a groggy Beast Boy began, with Terra coming to, right beside him. From the looks on their faces, they both had the mother, father, aunt and uncle of all headaches. "What _hit_ us? It was like, we were fine one minute, then, the next….."

"You were all attacked by Brainiac. Apparently, he made the quite logical deduction that removal of this world's enhanced power beings from this world would make his goals more attainable than they had previously been." Omega, Kitten, Haywire, Raven, and Athena moved among them, checking them for injuries. The nanoprobes were being flushed from their system, good, good. "Apparently," Omega continued, dryly, "he left something to be desired as a host."

Shortly thereafter, once everyone had been returned to their proper locations, the Titans conferred back at the tower. "Still hated having to hide while everybody was in danger," Hank chafed.

"But you did not _hide_," Athena explained. It had partially been her idea: when she'd noticed the absence of any humans in the Tower, she'd contacted the Orb via Link, learning that it had enveloped the last remaining two. "You denied our opponent the accomplishment of two of his crucial goals and provided a means to strike back at him at the appropriate time. That is hardly the same thing as hiding." Working through the Orb, they'd gathered in the incarcerated humans.

"But how did you _find_ us?" Robin was puzzled. "I mean, that cybership of his could've been _anywhere._"

"But he was not. We knew three things about our opponent." She ticked them off on her hand, "one, he was currently trying to access the Thinkers'—excuse me, the Kindred's computers, two, that he was lying in wait for Kitten and me to walk into his trap via some entrance other than an above ground one. So the underground entrance was indicated, and three, in order to remain undetectable by this world's superbeings, he had to be in a different quantum state than everyone else. Not wildly different, or he wouldn't have been able to interact with this world at all. By finding his quantum state—which Alpha did, with some difficulty—and combining that knowledge with the rest, we deduced his ship, the physical portion of it intersecting this world, must be residing in or near the tunnels of the Tower's underground entrance."

"So what did you do to him? Plant some kind of bomb on his ship?"

Athena smiled without humor. "Nothing quite so obvious as that. With the Orb's help, we contacted Missy, who, it turns out, is…quite good with machines and a natural at reprogramming computers. We had her…make some changes to Brainiac's source code. Altered it slightly."

"It was Athena's idea," Omega spoke up. "It was a sure thing that, once he realized we knew where he was—being able to liberate his captives would of course be a good indicator of that-, he'd simply have no choice but to stop being there, one way or another. There was a high probability that he'd just digitize and delete his own ship. Or rather, the ship that was here, the one his captives were on. But he wouldn't want to lose any information he'd already acquired. We just gave him a little something extra. Simply destroying this one ship would've accomplished little, in the long run. As it is, the programming now accessible to _all_ his selves has been….changed."

"Let me guess," Robin was still holding a just-now-coming-to Starfire's hand, "you had him figure out _pi_ to its ultimate decimal point. Or something similar. Right?"

"Oh, no." Again Athena smiled. "I'm sure a machine as sophisticated as Brainiac has failsafe subroutines built in specifically to defend against such attacks. No, what we did was…a bit more subtle. Let's just say, we gave him what you would call, 'food for thought.'"

…

Brainiac was a machine, albeit a very sophisticated one, of course, and thus immune to emotion. Nonetheless, it seemed something of what the humans would call a _shame_: all that effort, wasted. And he wasn't even sure how, exactly.

His programming was intact, core components functioning as they should. Whatever no doubt nasty surprise the humans had left him in his other ship/self had been designed to destroy him completely, or at least, as they understood the term. They couldn't know (not that it really mattered if they did) about all his _other_ ship/selves scattered throughout the galaxy. As such, even had they been allowed to destroy the first ship, it really would have accomplished nothing.

Now to examine the digitized version of the box, "see" what was inside.

It was empty. Strange. Perhaps a decoy, a distraction of some sort? But the captives had already been freed. Why leave behind an empty box?

Brainiac was acutely aware that he didn't possess all the knowledge that there was. That was the whole point of his programming: acquire all knowledge.

But it occurred to him, acquiring all the knowledge there was, was not the same thing as acquiring all the knowledge that there _could be_. The image came into his vast, linked positronic brain of a farmer sowing seeds in a field, the seeds sprouting—and the farmer harvesting the sprouts _before_ they had a chance to produce fruit. That seemed very wasteful.

Perhaps…perhaps the universe could be persuaded to produce _more_ knowledge than it already had?

Many races had reached a certain pinnacle of technological development: the remnants of the Kryptonians, the inhabitants of Raan, the Guardians of Oa-the list went on. But many more were just now on the very cusp of technological breakthroughs that would revolutionize the way they interacted with each other, and the universe as a whole. How could he encourage that?

Earth: the Earthlings had great, nearly infinite potential. A portion of his presence, in humanoid form, was there. His attention was attracted by the sound of a human infant in distress; he traced this sound to a waste receptacle behind a tenement.

This made no sense to him. Why go to the trouble of producing an infant, then leaving the infant in a waste receptacle? What could be gained by that?

Perhaps the infant was defective somehow. That must be it. Well, he could fix that. Organic beings were actually pretty easy to repair.

There being no one else around, he simply took the infant back to his _other_ cybership, out beyond the ringed planet, and, after satisfying himself that there was nothing physically wrong with the boy-child, he immediately began preparations to increase this human's intelligence level.

It occurred to him, that, in time, the human or his descendents might even surpass himself, intelligence-wise. But Brainiac lacked the sort of ego that would be threatened by such a possibility; if the infant or his descendents _did_ surpass him, that only meant his mission to increase the overall available knowledge had succeeded beyond his most positive computations.

Now for a suitable planet, where he could work, undisturbed…..

The planet known to some as _Colu_ seemed promising.

The End.


End file.
